R  i 


GIFT   OF 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE 
ART  OF  TEACHING 


THE   SCIENCE 

AND  THE 

ART  OF  TEACHING 

BY 

DANIEL  WOLFORD  LA  RUE,  PH.D. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  EDUCATION,  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 
EAST  STROUDSBURG,  PENNSYLVANIA 


AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
DANIEL  WOLFOBD  LA  RUE 


All  rights  reserved 


LA  RUE'S  SCI.  AND  ART  OF  TEACH. 
W.  P.  3 


)-«— \~+~^ 


A  FIRST  WORD  TO  THE  READER 

FOR  some  years,  the  substance  of  this  book  has  been  used 
by  the  author  to  introduce  students  to  the  work  of  teaching. 
The  modern  teacher  is  the  social  parent  of  his  pupil.  As 
such,  he  must  have  some  vision  of  the  whole  great  work  of 
education,  but  from  the  teacher's  standpoint.  Such  a  gen- 
eral view  is  here  presented. 

Emphasis  is  laid  on  the  fact  that  teaching  is  becoming  an 
efficient  art,  because  we  are  learning  to  base  it  on  scientific 
certainty,  on.  the  results  of  schoolroom  experiment.  The 
day  of  tradition  and  of  merely  personal  authority  has  not 
altogether  gone  in  education,  but  we  can  all  help  to  speed 
its  passing.  Not  only  are  the  scientific  spirit  and  ways  of 
working  emphasized,  but  teaching  method  is  shown  to  be 
based  on  scientific  method  as  found  in  the  field  and  in  the 
laboratory. 

Also  emphasized  in  these  pages  is  the  necessity  for  adapt- 
ing the  lesson  to  the  learner.  It  is  easy  to  give  too  much 
attention  to  subject  matter.  We  are  teaching  children 
rather  than  branches  of  study,  developing  the  mind  rather 
than  the  matter.  The  child  is  made  centrally  prominent. 

Aside  from  material  equipment,  four  factors  determine 
the  success  of  our  educational  efforts.  They  are  (i)  the 
child,  (2)  the  teacher,  (3)  the  world,  especially  as  represented 
in  the  "course  of  study,"  and  (4)  the  educational  ideal. 
In  Part  One,  which  is  introductory,  these  four  topics  are 
discussed  in  a  general  way;  and  each  of  the  four  remaining 

5 

390638 


6  A  FIRST  WORI?  TO  THE  READER 

Parts  of  the  book' is  deVbted  to  the  teaching  process  as 
depenttent  OjfrjQfle^of:  Ijhese.  four 'factors. 

Students  who  nave  hacTno  introductory  work  in  psychol- 
ogy will  find  the  book  adapted  to  them.  Those  who  have 
had  such  an  introduction  are  usually  grateful  for  a  review 
of  the  essentials. 

I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Professors  W.  L.  Gooding  of 
Dickinson  College,  and  R.  M.  Yerkes  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, and  especially  to  my  wife,  Mabel  Guinnip  La  Rue,  all 
of  whom  have  read  the  manuscript  and  improved  it  much 
by  their  numerous  and  valuable  suggestions. 

DANIEL  WOLFORD  LA  RUE. 


CONTENTS 

PART  ONE 

Nature  of  Teaching:  Method  and  What  Determines  It 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING n 

II  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING     ...  22 

III  METHOD  AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT       ....  29 

IV  THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL 36 

PART  TWO 
Method  as  Determined  by  the  Nature  of  the  Child 

V  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 47 

VI  How  THE  MIND  WORKS 59 

VII  COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL:  PERCEPTION  .     .  68 

VIII  COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL:  ASSOCIATION         .  78 

IX  REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING 91 

X  THINKING 105 

XI  EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS 117 

XII  LEVELS  OF  LEARNING 128 

XIII  THE  LEARNING  PROCESS 138 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

PART  THREE 
Method  as  Related  to  the  Teacher 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV  KINDS  OF  LESSON  AND  How  TO  TEACH  THEM  157 
XV  KINDS  OF  LESSON  AND  How  TO  TEACH  THEM 

(Continued) 166 

XVI  QUESTIONING 180 

XVII  PLANNING  THE  LESSON 190 

XVIII  TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION 202 

XIX  PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS 212 

PART  FOUR 
Teaching  as  Conditioned  by  Subject  Matter 

XX  THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES 227 

XXI  SCIENCE 239 

XXII  MATHEMATICS 250 

XXIII  HISTORY 261 

XXIV  ART 274 

XXV  LANGUAGE 285 

PART  FIVE 

Educational  Practice  as  Influenced  by  the  Educational 

Ideal 

XXVI  MORAL  EDUCATION 297 

XXVII  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION 307 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 319 

INDEX        329 


PART  ONE 

NATURE  OF  TEACHING:  METHOD 
AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT 


CHAPTER  I 
OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING 

"This  spirit  seeks  only  the  fact,  without  the  slightest  regard  to 
consequences;  any  twisting  or  obscuring  of  the  fact  to  accommodate 
it  to  a  preconceived  theory,  hope,  or  wish,  any  tampering  with  the 
actual  result  of  investigation,  is  the  unpardonable  sin.  It  is  a  spirit 
at  once  humble  and  dauntless,  patient  of  details,  drawing  indeed  no 
distinction  between  great  and  small,  but  only  between  true  and  false; 
passionless  but  energetic,  venturing  into  pathless  wastes  to  bring  back 
a  fact,  caring  only  for  truth,  candid  as  a  still  lake,  expectant,  un- 
fettered, and  tireless. 

'"  Work  of  his  hand 
He  nor  commends  nor  grieves: 

Pleads  for  itself  the  fact; 
As  unrepenting  nature  leaves 
Her  every  act.'"* 

EXERCISE. — A  parent  asks  me  to  tell  him  the  best  method 
for  his  child  to  use  in  committing  to  memory  a  poem  of 
moderate  length.  I  advise  that  the  child  learn  thoroughly 
one  line  at  a  time,  instead  of  taking  one  stanza  at  a  time, 
or  the  whole  piece  as  a  unit.  Am  I  right?  How  do  you 
know?  How  can  such  things  be  found  out? 

You  are  going  to  teach.  Naturally,  you  want  to  succeed. 
But  whether  you  succeed  or  fail  depends  greatly  on  the 
regard  you  have  for  your  work,  your  attitude  toward 
teaching. 

Every  superintendent  has  to  deal  with  teachers  of  various 

*  Charles  William  Eliot,  Educational  Reform.  Used  by  permission 
of  The  Century  Company,  publishers. 

IT 


12  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

types:  the  salary-seeker,  who,  by  keeping  his  eye  on  pay 
day,  manages  to  pull  through;  the  chore-boy  teacher,  who 
contrives,  by  much  pottering,  to  use  up  all  the  time  there 
is;  the  motion-maker,  who  feels  that  the  whole  business  is 
guesswork  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  but  who  thinks  the 
results  ought  to  be  there  because  he  has  worked  hard,  going 
through  with  everything  the  book  and  the  superintendent 
told  him  to  do.  The  teacher  desired  most  of  all  is  the 
who,  realizing  that  education,  like 


everything  else,  is  "  governed  by  law,"  tries  to  learn  that 
law  and  to  follow  its  leading. 

Science  as  the  key  to  success.  —  Not  individuals  only, 
but  the  whole  race  is  coming  to  regard  science  as  the  key 
to  success.  The  fanner,  the  physician,  and  the  business 
man,  who  used  to  follow  blindly  the  practice  of  their 
predecessors,  or  groped  along  under  the  guidance  of  their 
own  guesses,  are  finding  that  science  unlocks  for  them  the 
gates  of  enterprise.  "  Knowledge  is  power."  A  comparison 
of  the  New  England  Primer  with  a  first  reader  of  modern 
make  (see  pages  14  and  15)  is  suggestive  of  what  has  been 
accomplished  in  education. 

When  old  means  and  methods  fail  us,  we  seek  better  ones, 
for  we  are  engaged  in  a  life-and-death  game  with  the  forces 
of  our  environment.  Nature  is  often  represented  as  a 
kindly  mother,  but  she  may  also  be  pictured  as  a  cruel 
stepmother.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  our  old  Earth 
Mother  deluges  us  with  water,  prostrates  us  with  sunstrokes, 
poisons  us  with  animal  or  plant  venom,  cracks  our  bones, 
swallows  us  up  alive.  But  with  all  this  terrible  cruelty, 
she  has  her  virtues;  she  is  fairly  regular  in  her  habits,  is 
invariably  systematic  and  orderly.  This  is  our  only  hope; 
by  watching  her  carefully,  we  learn  to  foresee  her  opera- 


OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING  I3 

tions  and  save  ourselves  by  planning  ahead.  So  we  have 
learned  to  store  our  food  for  the  winter  that  is  months  away, 
but  which  is  sure  to  come.  So  most  of  us  endure  vac- 
cination, to  escape  the  disease  which  would  otherwise 
endanger  our  lives. 

Science  aims  at  (i)  prediction  and  faj_  cmflroL — Some 
of  nature's  doings  are  still  a  blank  mystery  to  us.  No  one 
can  predict  when  the  next  earthquake  will  come,  nor  can 
he  control  it  when  it  occurs.  Neither  can  we  control 
storms,  but,  failing  in  that,  we  are  learning  to  foretell  their 
coming  and  take  to  cover.  "Forewarned  is  forearmed." 
Further,  in  many  cases  we  not  only  know  what  nature 
will  do,  but  we  even  obtain  control  of  some  of  her  operations, 
her  fires,  electric  currents,  waterfalls,  and  the  like,  and  make 
them  work  for  us. 

Now  education  is  just  a  matter  of  preparing  a  child  to 
go  out  into  the  world  and  play  a  winning  game  with  nature 
(and  human  nature).  As  teachers,  we  want  to  control  the 
child's  attention,  memory,  thought,  and  behavior,  until  he 
can  take  the  steering  wheel  and  guide  himself;  and  instead 
of  tinkering  blindly  at  his  personality,  we  should  be  able  to 
foresee  just  how  his  mind  will  operate  when  we  apply  the 
electric  spark  of  education.  The  physician,  after  his  diag- 
nosis of  a  case,  can  give  some  " prognosis"  of  it,  can  tell 
what  its  future  would  be  under  various  kinds  of  treatment. 
Some  day,  we  teachers  may  be  able  to  tell  how  our  cases 
will  turn  out  under  our  educational  prescription.  If  ever 
we  find  out  how  to  diagnose  a  pupil's  personality  and  ad- 
minister the  kind  of  education  that  will  yield  him  the  most 
usefulness  and  happiness,  whether  as  merchant,  mechanic, 
or  professional  man,  it  will  be  the  greatest  educational 
discovery  ever  known. 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 


Young  TIMOTHY 
Learnt  fin  to  fly. 


V  A  s  T  a  i  for  Pride, 
Was  fet  afide. 


Whales  in  the  Seat, 
GOD's  Voice  obey. 

X  E  a  x  E  s  did  die. 
And  fo  muft  I. 


While  youth  do  chcar 
Death  may  bo  near. 

Z  A  c  c  H  E  n  s  he 
Did  climb  the  Tree 
Our  Lord  to  fee. 


A  page  of  the  New  England  Primer 
(Exact  size) 

From  the  edition  published  by  Mr.  Ira  Webster, 
of  Hartford,  in  the  year  1843 


OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING 


She  went  to  Humpty  Dumpty. 

"Please,  Humpty  Dumpty, 
help  me  find  my  sheep!" 

Humpty  Dumpty  sat  on  a  wall. 

Humpty  Dumpty  said, 
"Leave  them  alone, 
and  they'll  come  home." 


Page  from  Story  Hour  Readers 

(Reduced  one-fourth) 
Copyright,  1913,  by  American  Book  Company 


1 6  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Why  science  succeeds. — The  reason  why  scientific  prac- 
tice is  crowding  out  other  methods  of  work  is  because  it 
excels  in  power  of  Q[gj||QtJ0JL  andjcojltaL  And  the  reason 
why  it  thus  excels  is  because  of  its  invincible  method  of 
finding  out  the  truth.  Since  this  scientific  method  is  the 
basis  of  many  of  the  methods  used  in  the  schoolroom,  we 
should  cultivate  a  warm  acquaintance  with  it  at  once. 

An  example  of  scientific  investigation. — Suppose  the 
problem  is  to  find  the  cause  of  dew.*  First  we  must  know 
exactly  what  it  is  we  are  trying  to  accomplish:  we  must 
know  precisely  what  we  mean  by  dew.  Shall  it  include  the 
moisture  found  sometimes  on  the  outside  of  a  pitcher,  or  on 
windows,  or  on  water  pipes?  These  cases  are  so  much  alike 
that  it  is  probably  best  to  consider  them  all  together.  By 
dew,  then,  we  shall  mean  the  moisture  that  gathers  on  any 
substance  exposed  in  the  open  air,  when  there  is  no  rain  or 
other  apparent  source  for  the  dampness. 

Our  second  step  is  to  get  all  possible  facts  in  the  case. 
We  make  many  observations  and  experiments,  consuming, 
it  may  be,  weeks  or  months  in  the  process.  We  find,  time 
after  time,  that  dew  appears  on  objects  which  are  under 
cover,  such  as  the  water  pipe  or  the  pitcher;  that  it  may 
form  on  the  under,  as  well  as  the  upper  surface  of  an  object; 
that  there  is  no  dew  on  very  cloudy  nights ;  that  if  we  forget 
to  put  up  our  carriage  top  dew  may  form  on  the  seat, 
whereas,  if  the  top  is  up  the  cushion  is  likely  to  remain  dry; 
that  dew  gathers  on  substances  which  are  dry  inside,  as 
well  as  on  those  that  are  damp,  etc. 

Having  collected  a  goodly  treasury  of  facts  that  seem  to 
have  some  bearing  on  the  answer  to  our  question,  we  next 

*  For  a  more  technical  logical  discussion  of  this  investigation,  see 
John  Stuart  Mill,  A  Syster.z  of  Logic,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  IX,  §  3. 


OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING  17 

generalize,  tie  up  our  facts  in  bunches,  so  to  speak,  as  the 
gardener  does  his  radishes.  For  example,  we  may  find  that 
we  have  a  hundred  observations,  all  tending  to  show  that 
dew  forms  most  freely  on  clear  nights.  This  generalization 
enables  us  to  hold  these  hundred  facts  in  a  single  mental 
grasp,  and  to  place  them  as  we  please,  without  scattering 
our  thoughts. 

We  now  make  guesses,  hypotheses  as  they  are  called,  as 
to  the  probable  cause  of  dew:  Let  us  see  what  some  of 
them  are: 

1.  Dew  may  fall  from  the  sky,  as  rain  does.    But  this 
cannot  be  true,  for  it  was  found  that  clear  nights  brought 
more  dew  than  cloudy  ones.    Also,  dew  formed  on  our  water 
pitcher,  under  cover,  where  anything  like  rain  was  out  of 
the  question. 

2.  Dew  may  be  forced  out  of  the  object  on  which  it  forms. 
Perhaps  the  water  on  the  pitcher  came  through  the  glass. 
But  on  looking  over  the  facts  we  find  that  dew  forms  on 
objects  that  are  dry  through  and  through.    We  may  even 
repeat  some  of  our  experiments,   to  make  sure  of  the 
matter. 

3.  Dew  may  come  from  the  air  and  settle  on  objects. 
But  why  does  it  not  form  on  all  objects  all  the  time?    We 
recall  the  coldness  of  bedewed  objects  as  compared  with 
the  temperature  of  the  surrounding  air;  we  know  that  cold 
contracts  most  things, — why  may  it  not  contract  the  air 
and  squeeze  out  the  moisture,  which  then  settles  on  what- 
ever is  near?    We  now  have  a  theory  that  harmonizes  all 
the  facts:  the  cooling  of  moist  air  by  a  comparatively  cold 
object  squeezes  out  particles  of  moisture  somewhat  as  if 
from  a  sponge;  these  particles  unite  to  form  drops  on  the 
object.    We  should  not  expect,  then,  to  find  dew  on  objects 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching — 2 


l8  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

that  are  wanner  than  the  air,  nor  on  any  object  surrounded 
by  perfectly  dry  air. 

We  experiment  further  and  find  that  this  third  hypothesis 
holds  good  under  every  test  that  our  ingenuity  can  devise. 
So  long  as  it  continues  to  do  so  we  shall  accept  it  as  "true." 
Finally,  having  established  this  new  truth,  we  feel  safe 
to  use  it  as  a  basis  for  further  reasoning.  For  example,  we 
may  be  asked  if  there  could  be  dew  were  there  no  air; 
whether*  there  is  dew  on  the  moon,  etc.  Having  learned  the 
cause  of  dew,  we  can  reason  out  pretty  certain  answers  to 
such  questions. 

Steps  in  scientific  method. — While  we  have  not  gone  into 
all  the  minute  details  of  the  investigation,  we  have  fol- 
lowed, in  general  outline,  the  method  used  everywhere  in 
science.    We  may  sum  up  the  steps  as  below: 
jFinding  a  definite  question  to  answer. 
Collecting  instances,  facts  that  seem  likely  to  have 

something  to  do  with  the  answer. 

3.  Putting  these  facts  into  a  class,  or  classes,  and  finding 
what  can  be  said  of  them,  that  is,  generalizing. 

ig  guesses,  hypotheses,  based  on  the  facts,  sug- 
gesting possible  explanations. 

5.  Testing  to  see  which  hypothesis  (if  any)  is  the  true  one. 

6.  Using  the  new  truth  as  a  basis  for  further  reasoning. 
The  steps  need  not  be  taken  in  just  this  order:  one  may 
ive  a  pretty  definite  hypothesis  when  he  begins  the  col- 
lecting of  facts.    Also,  the  scientist  is  sometimes  compelled 
to  halt  before  the  process  is  finished.    For  example,  he  may 
make  some  important  generalization,  such  as  "All  magnets 
attract  iron  but  not  wood,"  without  being  able  to  complete 
his  work  and  show  why  this  is  so.    But  the  steps  enumerated 
above  are  the  essential  processes  in  scientific  investigation. 


OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING  19 

The  scientific  spirit  in  education. — Most  noticeable  in 
the  scientific  spirit  is  that  it  takes  nobody's  statement  as 
the  source  of  authority,  but  "seeks  only  the  fact,"  insists 
that  the  voice  of  the  facts  shall  silence  all  other  voices. 
It  forbids  us  to  worship  educational  heroes  and  blindly 
obey  them,  or  to  do  what  "has  always  been  done,"  when 
the  facts  in  the  case  condemn  such  practice. 

Further,  these  facts  are  obtained  for  the  most  part,  not 
by  stumbling  against  them  in  the  darkness  of  random  ex- 
perience, but  under  the  searchlight  of  carefully  planned 
observation,  accurately  recorded.  It  is  this  devotion  to 
scientific  method  that  has  built  up  our  "experimental 
pedagogy,"  and  much  of  what  is  known  as  educational 
psychology.  The  scientific  educator  demands  that  so  far 
as  possible  all  questions  be  settled,  not  by  wrangling  ar- 
gument, nor  by  appeal  to  personal  authority,  but  by  experi- 
ment. He  believes  that  not  nature  only,  but  human  nature 
as  well  is  regular  in  its  workings,  is  "subject  to  law,"  as  we 
say,  and  that  its  laws  can  be  worked  out,  slowly,  with 
many  sighs  perhaps,  but  surely.  Pedagogy  needs  more 
investigators  who  will  study  the  minds  and  bodies  of 
children  as  keenly  as  others  are  studying  the  wings  of 
moths  and  the  mandibles  of  ants. 

If  you  take  the  scientific  attitude  toward  teaching,  you 
will  realize  that  there  is  among  teachers  a  great  deal  of  fic- 
tion which  is  passing  as  truth.  You  will  learn  to  distinguish 
the  earnest  truth  seeker  from  the  mere  opinion  peddler. 
You  will  learn  that  you  cannot  develop  souls  by  a  blue- 
print pattern  furnished  from  the  superintendent's  office, 

it  must  have  some  insij 
but  tolerant  of  others;  for  the  field  of  truth  is  too  large  to 
permit  of  monopoly.    You  will  be  critical,  not  for  the  sake 


20  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

of  the  criticism  but  for  the  sake  of  truth.  You  will  not 
make  believe;  and  if  others  do  so,  you  will  prick  their 
bubbles  with  your  logic.  But  you  will  not  aim  to  win  de- 
bates merely.  Whether  you  confute  another  or  acknowledge 
your  own  error,  it  will  all  be  done  in  the  same  calm  and 
happy  spirit.  Let  facts  be  facts,  whatever  the  conse- 
quences. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

i. What  are  the  dangers  of  following  blindly  an  educa- 
tional leader? 

2.  Choose  some  thoroughly  scientific  person  of  your  ac- 
quaintance and  describe  his  attitude  toward  his  work.    Do 
you  think  he  would  quickly  accept  a  new  theory,  or  sub- 
stitute authority  in  place  of  scientific  investigation? 

3.  How  does  the  position  of  school  principal  or  superin- 
tendent differ  from  that  of  manager  of  a  gang  of  laborers? 

4.  Devise  an  experiment  to  determine  whether  children 
should  recite  spelling  orally,  or  by  writing,  or  both. 

5.  Let  each  member  of  the  class  bring  in  one  or  more 
examples  of  a  collection  of  something,  such  as  coins  or 
stamps,  made  by  a  child.    See  if  any  generalizations  can 
be  made,  and  whether  such  collections  can  be  satisfactorily 
explained. 

6.  Do  you  think  your  mind  is  "governed  by  law"  ?    Can 
you  state  any  mental  law?    Where  can  you  find  statements 
of  mental  laws? 

7.  Should  we  ever  argue  educational  questions,  if  they 
are  open  to  harmless  experiment?    What  kind  of  question 
should  be  debated? 

8.  Look  up  and  report  an  account  of  an  educational 
experiment. 

9.  When  you  prove  something  of  one  triangle,  is  it  sure 
to  hold  true  of  all  triangles?    Why?    If  you  prove  some- 


OUR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  TEACHING  2i 

thing  about  one  child,  is  it  sure  to  hold  true  of  all  children? 
Why? 

10.  Describe  a  pet  or  a  friend,  as  you  would  for  rhetorical 
purposes,  and  then  give  a  scientific  description  of  the  same 
subject.    What  is  the  difference?    Which  appeals  more  to 
thought?    To  feeling? 

11.  Generalize  about  your  school:  make  statements  that 
will  hold  true  of  all  the  students;  all  the  faculty;  all  subjects 
studied;  all  athletic  sports. 

12.  Can  you  think  of  any  outworn  practices  in  schools, 
which  you  would  like  to  change?    How  can  you  tell  whether 
the  change  you  propose  would  be  wise? 

REFERENCES 

Boone,  Richard  Cause,  Science  of  Education,  Chs.  XIII,  XIV. 
O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Education  as  Adjustment,  Chs.  I,  II. 
Rusk,   Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education, 
Ch.  I. 

Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  Ch.  XXX. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

"A  science  teaches  us  to  know  and  an  art  to  do,  and  all  the  more 
perfect  sciences  lead  to  the  creation  of  corresponding  useful  arts."  * 

EXERCISES. — (i)  Toss  a  coin  fifty  times,  recording  the 
number  of  " heads"  and  of  " tails."  Repeat  until  you  feel 
that  you  can  state  the  law  of  the  appearance  of  heads  and 
tails. 

(2)  State  in  advance  how  many  heads  and  how  many 
tails  you  expect  to  get  if  you  toss  fifty  times  more.     Try  it. 

(3)  Number  the  next  twenty-five  throws  and  place  oppo- 
site each  number  an  h  for  head  or  a  /  for  tail,  according  to 
what  you  expect  in  each  case.    Try  it. 

With  which  did  you  succeed  better,  (2)  or  (3)?  Can 
you  tell  why? 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  every  teacher  will  immedi- 
ately plunge  into  educational  experiment  on  a  large  scale; 
but  we  can  all  appreciate  and  use  the  results  mined  out  for 
us  by  others.  We  may  even  gain  the  chance  to  cooperate 
in  such  work,  and  so  have  a  right  to  feel  that  we  are  of  real 
service  in  creating  a  reliable  science  of  education. 

What  kind  of  science  can  we  hope  to  establish? 

Sciences  are  either  exact  or  approximate. — We  have 
found  that  science  is  seeking  the  power  to  predict  and  to 
control.  A  science  is  exact,  then,  in  so  far  as  it  can  (a) 


*  W.  Stanley  Jevons,  Elementary  Lessons  in  Logic.    Used  by  per- 
mission of  The  Macmillan  Company,  publishers. 

22 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  23 

predict  events  accurately,  or  (b)  control  them  minutely. 
The  astronomer  can  predict  the  uncontrollable  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies — say  an  eclipse — to  the  fraction  of 
a  second.  Hence  astronomy  is  an  exact  science.  On  the 
other  hand  we  have  learned  to  accept  with  some  indulgence 
the  predictions  of  the  weather  bureau:  meteorology  is  not 
yet  an  exact  science.  Power  of  control  is  highly  developed 
in  physics  and  mechanics,  while  it  is  all  too  slowly  coming 
into  our  grasp  in  such  sciences  as  agriculture,  medicine,  and 
education. 

Education  can  be  an  approximate  science. — The  reason 
why  some  sciences  cannot  be  exact  is  that  there  are  so  many 
unseen  forces  at  work;  we  fail  to  read  what  is  going  on  be- 
hind nature's  countenance.  The  weather  cannot  now  be 
predicted  precisely,  because  we  have  not  as  yet  been  able 
to  isolate  and  measure  every  factor,  cloud,  wind,  and  what 
not,  that  affects  weather  conditions.  So  with  the  science 
of  teaching:  to  attempt  to  measure  accurately  all  the  cur- 
rents of  a  child's  mind  is  much  like  trying  to  measure  all 
the  petty  tributaries  of  a  river,  when  they  have  mingled 
well  in  the  big  stream,  or  the  many  minute  and  constantly 
changing  parts  of  the  flame  of  a  candle.  Besides,  the 
child's  mind  is  unstable;  one  little  electric  twinkle  in  the 
corner  of  the  teacher's  eye  may  destroy  the  whole  value  of 
an  educational  experiment.  Such  a  twinkle  would  have  no 
effect  if  one  were  experimenting  on  a  piece  of  steel. 

To  meet  such  difficulties  the  investigator  depends  upon 
spreading  his  work  out,  and  covering  enough  ground 
roughly  to  make  up  for  his  lack  of  accurate  knowledge  of 
any  one  square  yard  of  it.  He  barely  touches  a  great  many 
things,  and  can  predict  little,  if  at  all,  about  any  particular 
object  we  may  point  to.  Such  would  be  the  experiment 


24  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

of  raising  five  thousand  hills  of  potatoes  on  an  acre:  the 
farmer  cannot  safely  predict  the  future  of  any  individual 
hill,  but  he  can  tell,  in  the  long  run,  the  average  yield  to 
expect  from  an  acre,  or  even  from  the  average  hill  of  po- 
tatoes. So  also  the  teacher,  by  collecting  statistics  from 
large  classes  year  after  year,  can  tell  about  how  many  pu- 
pils in  a  hundred  are  likely  to  make  a  satisfactory  mark, 
and  how  many  are  likely  to  fail.  But  he  cannot  foretell, 
when  first  he  meets  a  hundred  new  pupils,  precisely  who 
will  win  the  highest  marks,  and  who  will  not  pass. 

Most  of  our  results,  then,  apply  to  large  groups  only, 
not  to  any  one  pupil  in  particular.  For  example,  suppose 
one  group  of  a  hundred  children  learn  the  spelling  lessons 
by  writing  the  words  over  and  over,  while  another  group 
learn  the  same  words  more  quickly  and  lastingly,  by  having 
them  placed  on  the  board  and  making  a  mental  picture  of 
each,  after  its  erasure.  This  would  convince  most  of  us 
that  the  second  method  is  better  than  the  first  in  teaching 
such  groups  of  pupils.  But  if  we  were  tutoring  any  indivi- 
dual child  of  the  two  hundred  mentioned  above,  we  could 
not  be  sure  that  we  had  the  superior  method  for  him, 
since  some  few  learn  better  by  the  method  of  repeated 
writing. 

We  can  appreciate  the  situation  if  we  recall  how  accu- 
rately a  marksman  can  direct  and  control  the  course  of  his 
bullet;  how  the  astronomer  can  foretell,  to  a  second,  when 
the  sun  will  rise  on  any  day  we  may  name  for  him,  ten  years 
from  now;  and  how  helpless  the  teacher  is  either  to  predict 
or  to  control  the  career  of  the  next  pupil  brought  to  him  to 
be  educated.  But  our  disadvantage  is  not  hopeless.  We 
are  making  constant  progress  in  the  direction  and 
of  pupils'  lives. 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  25 

Teaching  is  an  art,  as  well  as  a  science. — In  any  under- 
taking, science  is  the  brain  and  artjthgJiancL  "A  science 
teaches  us  to  know  and  an  art  to  do."  An  art  is  a  process, 
the  process  of  changing  some  kind  of  raw  material  into  a 
finished  product.  In  teaching,  the  "raw  material"  is  our 
pupils  as  they  come  to  us;  the  finished  product,  these  pu- 
pils when  they  leave  us.  If  they  have  not  undergone  a  real 
change  for  the  better  during  their  sojourn  with  us,  we  can 
hardly  say  we  have  taught  at  all,  no  matter  what  fine 
performances  we  have  gone  through  in  the  schoolroom. 
We  do  not  teach  unless  somebody  learns. 

The  science  of  teaching  should  enlighten  the  art. — Just 
as  there  are  good  farmers  who  do  not  understand  their  own 
farming,  so  there  are  successful  teachers  who  can  explain 
neither  what  they  do  nor  why  they  do  it.  But  they  are  in 
danger  of  being  like  the  quack,  who,  because  a  pink  pill 
cures  one  case,  administers  pink  pills  to  all  patients  for  all 
ailments.  Silly  as  this  may  seem,  such  teaching  is  equally 
absurd. 

Nowadays,  however,  every  art  that  hopes  to  maintain 
its  standing  seeks  scientific  guidance.  As  the  best  farmer 
is  the  well-informed  agricultural  artist,  and  the  best  physi- 
cian is  the  scientific  practitioner,  so  the  best  teacher  is 
the  one  who  compasses  both  his  science  and  his  art,  who 
uses  both  head  and  hand.  Thoughtful  art  is  applied 
science. 

The  relation  of  education  to  other  sciences. — Education 
is  the  little  brother  among  sciences,  and  it  would  be  foolish 
not  to  profit  by  what  its  older  relatives  have  accomplished. 
All  are  working  for  the  same  general  purpose,  to  find  out  the 
truth  about  ourselves  and  the  world  in  which  we  live.  We 
can  learn  much  by  keeping  an  eye  on  what  our  neighbor  is 


26  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

doing  in  his  field  of  investigation,  while  our  hands  are  driv- 
ing our  own  work. 

Some  of  our  nearest  and  most  helpful  neighbors  are:  the 
biologist,  who  attempts  to  explain  the  mystery  of  life;  the 
)hysiologist,  who  shows  us  what  each  part  of  the  body  does 
or  the  body  as  a  whole, — the  work  of  heart,  stomach,  and 
nerve;  thej^fiiokigist,  who  shows  us  what  each  part  of  the 
social  body  does  for  the  people  as  a  whole, — the  work  of 
school,  church,  government;  tjiej^ajjdiologist,  who  is  meet- 
ing with  some  success  in  exploring  the  mazes  of  the  mind. 
All  these  and  many  others  labor  alongside  the  educator  in 
a  spirit  of  cheerful  cooperation. 

The  teacher  cannot  be  a  specialist  in  all  these  fields.  But 
he  can  reasonably  hope  to  cull  from  them  some  of  the  facts 
that  are  largest,  most  significant,  most  illuminating  for  his 
educational  endeavors.  This  shall  be  one  of  the  aims  in 
the  pages  that  follow. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Should  you,  as  a  teacher,  prefer  to  receive  detailed 
instructions  intended  to  apply  to  every  child,  or  to  take  the 
responsibility  of  treating  each  as  you  think  fit?    Why? 

2.  A  superintendent  in  one  of  our  large  cities  laid  out 
the  daily  geography  lessons  for  each  grade.    Was  this  wise? 

3.  How  many  students  have  been  graduated  from  your 
school  each  year  of  the  past  ten  years?    Does  the  average 
tell  you  the  number  that  will  be  graduated  this  year?    Is 
the  average  likely  to  remain  the  same  for  the  next  ten  years? 
How  does  this  problem  differ  from  that  of  foretelling  the 
percentage  of  stormy  days  during  the  next  year  or  the  next 
ten  years? 

4.  It  was  once  thought  that,  since  the  ocean  became 
warmer  the  farther  south  one  went,  at  the  equator  the 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  27 

water  must  boil.    Explain  the  nature  of  this  error.    Is  there 
any  danger  of  similar  errors  in  pedagogy? 

5.  On  automatic  weighing  machines,  figures  are  often 
found  stating  "what  you  should  weigh,"  according  to  your 
sex  and  height.    What  authority  is  back  of  these  figures? 
Is  there  any  reason  why  they  should  apply  to  you  indi- 
vidually? 

6.  Physical  culturists  often  speak  of  "perfect"  physical 
development:  what  is  this?    Whence  do  they  obtain  their 
idea  of  perfection?    Have  they  a  right  to  apply  it  to  you? 
Why? 

7.  Binet  found  that  the  average  height  of  ten-year-old 
French  boys  was  130  centimeters,  and  their  average  weight 
28  kilograms.     Should  a  French  boy  whose  tenth -year 
height  and  weight  fell  below  these  figures  be  classed  as 
subnormal?     Why? 

8.  What  is  a  norm?    Should  teeth  that  are  as  healthy  as 
the  average  be  called  normal?    When  should  the  norm  be  an 
average?    When  an  ideal? 

9.  Shall  we  ever  be  able  to  forecast  the  length  of  a  human 
life  scientifically?    Why? 

10.  Can  you  suggest  any  educational  questions  that  are 
not  open  to  experiment? 

11.  Resolved:  That  a  teacher  who  has  learned  by  experi- 
ence the  art  of  teaching,  but  little  of  the  science,  is  to  be 
preferred  to  a  normal  or  college  graduate  who  has  learned 
the  science  but  not  the  art.    Choose  your  side  of  this  ques- 
tion and  outline  an  argument. 

12.  How  do  you  find  whether  it  is  wrong  to  lie?     To 
steal?     Would  you  advocate  experiment  here? 

13.  Gal  ton  found  that  the  head  of  a  certain  child  who  had 
measles  and  other  children's  diseases  ceased  to  grow  during 
illness,  and  never  recovered  the  lost  growth.    What  do  you 
think  of  the  probability  that  this  would  hold  true  for  all 
children? 


28  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

14.  Which  can  safely  be  applied  more  widely,  physical 
or  mental  statistics?    Why? 

15.  Who  decides  what  we  should  try  to  make  of  our 
children  finally?    How  should  this  be  decided? 

1 6.  Consider  the  comparative  value  of  the  following,  as 
means  of  investigating  any  question: 

1.  Unsystematic  observations  or  trials  of  a  thing — "  ex- 

perience. " 

2.  Statistics:  systematic,  extensive  observation  or  ex- 

periment; partial  knowledge  or  control  (or  both)  of 
that  which  determines  the  result. 

3.  Intensive  observation  or  experiment;  comparatively 

full  knowledge  or  control  (or  both)  of  that  which 

determines  the  result. 

Which  is  most  reliable?    Which  has  been  most  used  in  the 
investigation  of  educational  questions? 

REFERENCES 

James,  William,  Talks  to  Teachers,  I. 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Education  as  Adjustment,  Ch.  III. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education, 
Ch.  II. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Educational  Psychology  (1903),  Ch. 
XV. 


CHAPTER  III 
METHOD  AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT 

"Method  is  essential  to  the  highest  genius,  whether  it  be  in  teach- 
ing or  in  other  matters;  and  the  results  arrived  at  by  clever  men 
are  largely  due  to  the  excellence  of  the  method  employed.  'If  I 
have  any  advantage  over  other  men/  says  Descartes,  'I  owe  it  to 
my  method.'"* 

EXERCISE. — Before  reading  this  chapter,  try  to  teach 
some  one  something  you  know, — how  to  whistle,  throw  a 
ball,  make  a  paper  doll,  solve  arithmetical  problems,  or 
the  like. 

Did  you  succeed?  How  do  you  know?  How  did  you  go 
about  it,  that  is,  what  method  did  you  use?  Can  you  think 
of  other  methods  that  would  bring  the  same  result?  How 
can  you  tell  which  is  best?  Make  a  list  of  the  chief  factors 
in  the  problem.  What  should  determine  the  choice  of  the 
method  to  be  used  in  any  particular  case? 

Nature  of  method. — A  method,  according  to  the  root 
meaning  of  the  word,  is  a  way  of  getting  soroewfrer^  at- 
taining something  we  are  after.  It  is  an  orderly  procedure 
for  the  accomplishment  of  a  definite  end.  As  we  can  reach 

Rome  by  more  than  one  road,  so  we  can  usually  accomplish 
a  given  object  in  more  than  one  way.  These  ways  are 
methods.  Physicians,  for  instance,  have  many  ways,  or 
methods  of  curing  a  patient.  So  with  the  farmer,  who 
has  different  methods  of  crop  raising;  the  cook,  who  knows 

*  Joseph  Landon,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching  and  Class 
Management. 

29 


30  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

several  recipes  for  making  pie;  and  the  teacher,  who  under- 
stands the  various  methods  of  "making"  mind.  In  every 
case  there  is  an  orderly  process  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
definite  end. 

What  determines  method?  —  Picture  to  yourself  a  me- 
chanic at  his  bench.    Here  we  have  (i)  th 


shaped.  (2)jtools  with  which  to  shape  it,  (3)  the 
who  wields  the  tools,  and  (4)  the  ideal  which  he  holds  in  his 
head  as  a  pattern  by  which  to  work.  The  way  he  sets  to 
work,  that  is,  his  method,  depends  on  all  four. 

Similarly  a  teacher  stands  before  his  class.  Here  we  have 
(i)  the  children,  the  material  to  be  shaped;  (2)  branches 
of  knowledge,  the  tools  with  which  to  work  on  the  children; 
(3)  the  teacher  who  wields  these  tools;  and  (4)  the  ideal  of 
the  educated  man  or  woman,  which  he  holds  in  mind  as  a 
pattern.  The  mechanic's  ideal  is  sometimes  bodied  forth  on 
paper;  and  the  teacher  is  fortunate  if  he  can  find  a  few  ad- 
mirable people  about  the  community,  to  serve  as  concrete 
models.  At  any  rate,  the  way  he  sets  to  work,  that  is,  his 
method,  depends  upon  these  four  factors,  which  are  present 
wherever  a  teacher  plies  his  art. 

Some  axioms  for  the  teacher.  —  If  we  have  succeeded  in 
finding  the  four  chief  determiners  of  method,  then  there  are 
certain  important  truths  which  force  themselves  upon  us 
at  this  point,  and  which  seem  so  nearly  "self-evident  "  as 
almost  to  take  the  nature  of  axioms. 

i.  The  teacher  should  know  the  ^^.  Bear  it  ever  in 
mind  that  you  are  to  teach  children,  rather  than  branches 
of  study.  Many  teachers  in  their  zeal  to  master  subject 
matter  forget  this.  As  a  result  the  human  interest  is  lost 
from  their  work,  and  we  hear  the  clatter  of  the  educational 
machinery.  As  a  meal  is  prepared  for  the  eater  of  it,  rather 


METHOD  AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT  31 

than  for  the  chef  or  the  waiter  or  even  the  whole  culinary 
system  of  the  kitchen,  so  all  educational  endeavor  is  neither 
for  the  teacher,  the  superintendent,  the  school  board,  nor 
the  whole  school  system,  but  for  the  child.  Take  him  away, 
and  the  whole  structure  would  collapse. 

There  is  much  danger  of  assuming  blindly  that  we  can 
understand  children  without  study;  or  that  they  are  just 
what  we  were  when  children;  or  that  they  are  manikins, 
that  is,  like  adults  only  smaller;  or  that  they  are  all  alike, 
and  hence  like  some  one  child  whom  we  know  intimately; 
or  that  we  can  at  least  get  the  necessary  knowledge  of  them 
from  books.  All  these  assumptions  are  wrong.  We  should 
look  upon  the  child  without  prejudice  or  presumption,  as 
we  regard  a  tree  or  a  toad:  he  is  a  natural  object  for  scien- 
tific study.  But  let  us  add  quickly  that  he  belongs  not 
only  in  the  realm  of  nature,  but  in  that  of  human  nature  as 
well,  and  hence  is  an  object  for  sympathetic  study.  How- 
ever much  else  we  may  know,  it  is  only  after  such  study  of 
those  who  are  to  be  taught,  that  we  are  prepared  to  teach. 

2.  The  teacher  should  know  the  $vorj().  We  have  seen  that 
the  various  branches  of  study  constitute  the  teacher's  kit  of 
tools,  the  educational  implements  with  which  he  works  on 
the  child.  But  they  are  toy  tools  in  a  way,  for  each  is  a 
reduced  copy  of  something  greater  which  is  found  outside  of 
school.  For  example,  school  geography  is  but  a  miniature 
of  the  actual  geography  of  the  world  outside.  School  work 
then  is  largely  a  substitute  for  something  more  "real," 
namely  contact  with  the  persons,  places,  and  affairs  of  our 
whole  vast  environment. 

As  most  children  cannot  learn  geography  by  extended 
travel,  they  must  do  the  best  they  can  with  books,  pictures, 
and  models.  As  they  have  no  actual  dealings  that  involve 


32  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  computing  of  interest  and  discount,  other  people's 
problems  are  thrust  upon  them  for  solution.  Speaking 
generally,  the  less  representative  and  artificial  the  school 
problems  are,  and  the  more  the  school  is  like  the  kind  of 
world  children  should  live  in,  the  better  the  resulting  educa- 
tion. 

The  teacher  must  know  the  curriculum;  but  if  this  is  all 
he  knows,  if  he  has  not  touched  the  larger  and  more  real 
world  through  business  or  travel  or  some  other  kind  of  social 
intercourse,  or  if  he  knows  it  only  through  the  touch  of 
polite  society,  both  he  and  his  pupils  are  unfortunate. 

3.  The  teacher  should  know  himself.    The  average  person 
needs  an  introduction  to  himself;  for  few  study  them- 
selves sufficiently  to  become  acquainted  with  their  own  per- 
sonalities.   Many  teachers  of  scholarly  ambition  are  failing 
because  they  have  neglected  one  study,  self-study.*    One 
should  know  both  his  strong  and  his  weak  points,  physical 
and  mental.    Before  entering  a  vocation,  he  should  take  an 
inventory  of  his  abilities  and  the  demands  of  the  vocation, 
and  see  how  they  compare. 

Having  become  a  teacher,  follow  the  lead  of  your  greatest 
successes.  Find  the  method  you  can  use  best,  both  inside 
and  outside  the  schoolroom.  Learn  just  what  kind  of 
working  force  you  naturally  are,  and  whether  your  per- 
sonality is  such  as  to  produce  the  good  effect  you  intend. 
There  is  room  for  all  to  succeed,  if  only  each  can  find  the 
place  where  his  inner  forces  can  expend  themselves  with 
greatest  freedom. 

4.  The  teacher  should  know  the  educational  ideal.    This  is 
the  star  to  which  we  hitch  our  wagon.    What  is  the  child  to 
be  and  do,  both  as  child  and  adult?    As  the  architect  has  in 
his  mind  an  ideal  building,  so  should  the  teacher  picture  for 


METHOD  AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT        33 

himself  an  ideal  personality.  Not  that  the  teacher  aims  to 
make  all  his  pupils  alike,  any  more  than  the  architect  aims 
to  make  all  his  buildings  alike.  It  would  become  unbear- 
ably monotonous  if  one  found  himself  the  exact  duplicate  of 
every  person  he  met! 

It  is  not  enough,  however,  to  know  the  ideal  as  one  knows 
the  multiplication  table:  he  must  live  it  as  he  lives  his  songs 
and  prayers.  Strange  to  say,  the  most  nearly  perfect  man 
seems  to  be  one  who  is  conscious  of  his  imperfections  and  is 
ever  trying  to  rid  himself  of  them.  In  this  sense,  the 
teacher  should  be  perfect.  Best  of  all  is  the  teacher  who 
may  well  be  described  as  q£&giyg,  who  has  conceived  a 

ffreat  purpose  a.nd  who   HaJly  prtfWvnrc;  fn  arrnmplkh   if.. 

Nevertheless  it  is  the  child  himself  who  furnishes  the 
ideal  for  his  own  education,  as  the  rose  furnishes  the  ideal 
for  its  own  development.  As  we  cannot  change  the  rose 
into  anything  contrary  to  its  nature,  neither  can  we  develop 
from  a  child  anything  that  his  natural  constitution  has  not 
made  possible.  The  strong-minded  teacher  who  attempts 
to  stamp  himself  upon  the  child  instead  of  developing  that 
child's  personality  may  be  the  worst  of  all  teachers. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Which  is  more  important,  a  good  teacher  or  a  good 
curriculum?     Why? 

2.  State  the  relation  of  general,  to  special  methods. 

3.  Suppose  yourself  a  member  of  a  board  of  education: 
what  should   then  be  your  largest  questions?    What  do 
you  think  most  interests,  a  superintendent  of  schools?     A 
teacher? 

4.  Make  a  list  of  several  methods  of  teaching  a  child  tc 
read.     Would  you  use  the  method  by  which  you  were 
taught?    Why? 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching — 3 


34  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

5.  Education  has  been  called  the  problem  of  the  three 
M's,  Man,  Matter,  and  Method.    Criticize  this. 

6.  Do  you  know  of  any  cases  where  a  child's  welfare  is 
being  sacrificed  to  a  system  or  a  false  ideal?    If  so,  describe 
some  of  them. 

7.  How  can  the  following  two  statements  be  harmonized? 
(a)  The  more  the  school  is  like  the  world,  the  better  the 
education,     (b)  When  an  individual  is  educated  by  direct 
contact  with  the  world,  his  education  is.  likely  to  be  patchy, 
unsystematic,  and  incomplete. 

8.  Why  need  the  teacher  have  an  educational  ideal,  if 
each  child  has  an  inborn  ideal  into  which  he  is  developing? 

9.  Should  a  father  map  out  a  definite  career  for  his  in- 
fant son?    Why? 

10.  Galton   states   that  parents   and   children   usually 
"understand  the  ways  of  one  another  more  intimately  than 
is  possible  to  persons  not  of  the  same  blood,  and  the  child 
instinctively  assimilates  the  habits  and  ways  of  thought  of 
its  parents."    If  this  is  true,  comment  on  the  value  of  home 
teaching  as  compared  with  that  of  the  school. 

11.  In  the  same  connection,  Galton  says:  "Those  teach- 
ings that  conform  to  the  natural  aptitudes  of  the  child  leave 
much  more  enduring  marks  than  others."    In  the  light  of 
this,  which  are  likely  to  be  the  most  valuable  branches  for 
a  child?    How  can  we  discover  which  they  are? 

12.  State  your  ideal  of  manhood  or  womanhood.    How 
came  you  by  this  ideal? 

13.  Describe  yourself  as  you  would  like  to  be  at  the  age 
of  forty  or  fifty. 

14.  Describe  the  best  teacher  you  have  ever  had. 

15.  In  order  to  "know  the  world,"  need  one  be  experi- 
enced in  all  its  evil? 

16.  Give  original  illustrations  of  principle,  law,  system, 
method,  rule,  device.    Define  each,  making  use  of  the  dic- 
tionary if  necessary.    Work  out  the  relation  of  method  to 
the  other  terms. 


METHOD  AND  WHAT  DETERMINES  IT        35 

17.  Try  to  state  the  rule  for  whistling,  without  going 
through  the  act.    Ask  a  good  swimmer  to  tell  you,  when 
he  is  out  of  water,  exactly  how  he  swims.    What  do  your 
results  show? 

18.  Should  we  take  it  for  granted  that  one  who  can  do  a 
thing  well  can  therefore  teach  it  well?    Does  ability  to  quote 
rules  prove  the  ability  to  perform  the  corresponding  opera- 
tions?   Give  instances  to  prove  your  answer. 

19.  Young  teachers  usually  wish  to  be  told  many  devices, 
while  those  who  teach  them  generally  regard  laws  and 
principles  as  of  first  importance.    Which  is  right?    Can  you 
think  of  any  way  of  satisfying  both  sides? 

REFERENCES 

Bagley,  William  Chandler,  The  Educative  Process,  Ch.  I. 
Bolton,  Frederick  Elmer,  Principles  of  Education,  Ch.  I. 
Dewey,  John,  My  Pedagogic  Creed,  Article  IV. 
Pyle,  William  Henry,  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology,  Ch.  I. 
Strayer,  George  Dray  ton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Proc- 
ess, Ch.  II. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL 

"Both  in  school  and  college,  diversity,  not  uniformity  of  product 
should  be  the  aim.  The  fortunate  pupil  or  student  is  he  who  early  dis- 
cerns his  life  career,  and  makes  his  school  training  or  his  school  and 
college  training  an  appropriate  preparation  for  it.  The  vocation  once 
known  gives  clear  guidance  to  those  knowledges  and  skills  which  will 
best  contribute  to  success  in  it."  * 

EXERCISE. — Which  would  you  prefer  to  be,  an  uncivilized 
Indian  with  fine  health  and  a  strong  probability  of  living  to 
the  age  of  seventy,  or  a  well-educated  white,  doomed  to  die 
of  tuberculosis  at  forty-five?  Why? 

We  have  found  that  the  first  step  in  scientific  procedure 
consists  in  forming  a  clear  idea  as  to  just  what  we  are  trying 
to  do.  Indeed  that  should  be  the  first  step  in  every  enter- 
prise. When  we  undertake  the  education  of  children,  then, 
we  must  first  try  to  get  a  clear  conception  of  the  educa- 
tional ideal. 

Nothing  receives  more  attention  in  theory,  or  less  in 
practice,  than  the  aim  or  purpose  of  education.  But  the 
pilot  cannot  box  the  compass  in  port  and  then  stow  it  away 
during  the  voyage.  He  steers  with  his  eye  ever  on  the 
needle  and  the  star.  So  our  ideal  in  teaching  should  be 
kept  so  constantly  before  us  that  its  light  will  illumine 
every  league  of  our  course.  "  Just  what  am  I  trying  to  ac- 

*  Charles  William  Eliot,  The  Value  During  Education  of  the  Life- 
Career  Motive. 

36 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL  37 

complish  now?"  "What  is  the  use  of  this?"  "What  am 
I  here  for,  anyway?"  These  are  the  questions  the  teacher 
should  ask  himself  over  and  over.  To  set  sail  without 
chart  or  compass  is  worse  than  to  lie  at  anchor  in  the  harbor. 

Education  as  change  for  the  better. — We  are  trying  to 
change  the  children;  that  much  is  certain.  If  education 
makes  no  difference,  of  what  advantage  is  it?  If  we  could 
subtract  an  uneducated  boy  from  the  same  boy  when  he  has 
become  educated,  the  remainder  would  give  the  value  of 
education,  and  indicate  what  it  is  we  are  trying  to  "add" 
to  our  pupils.  Let  us  consider  other  instances,  among 
objects,  plants,  and  the  lower  animals,  where  there  is 
change  in  the  way  of  betterment,  and  find  whether  this 
helps  us  when  we  apply  the  idea  to  children. 

The  sap  of  certain  trees,  when  subjected  to  heat,  makes 
rubber;  but  raw  rubber  of  this  kind  loses  its  elasticity  when 
exposed  to  the  air.  Crude  rubber  can  be  so  changed  by  a 
certain  method  of  treating  it  with  sulphur,  that  it  will  re- 
main elastic,  and  it  becomes  more  pliable,  plastic,  and 
durable.  ,  We  thus  develop  the  rubber,  according  to  its  own 
nature,  so  as  to  make  it  more  useful.  This  seems  like 
education.  The  rubber  is  graduated  from  the  factory  and 
receives  its  diploma  in  the  form  of  the  manufacturer's 
stamp. 

Similarly,  when  we  develop  a  young  cabbage  plant  in  the 
garden,  all  we  can  do  is  to  bring  out  the  traits  of  the  cabbage. 
No  one  can  change  it  into  a  cauliflower.  We  "educate"  it 
by  developing  it,  according  to  its  own  nature,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  greatest  usefulness. 

Canary  birds  are  trained  to  expert  singing  by  giving 
them  a  graded  course  in  tone  production.  They  imitate 
sweet-sounding  bells,  the  resonant  violin,  the  cultivated 


38  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

human  voice,  and  the  trills  of  their  more  advanced  class- 
mates. When  they  are  graduated  from  this  canary  con- 
servatory, they  go  out  as  certified  singers. 

Wherever  man  works  changes,  in  cooking  food,  raising 
vegetables,  training  dogs  and  horses,  or  educating  children, 
his  purpose  is  the  same:  to  develop  each,  according  to  its 
nature,  so  as  to  make  it  most  useful. 

To  whom  is  the  child  useful? — In  dealing  with  plants  and 
the  lower  animals,  we  sacrifice  them  recklessly  for  our 
pleasure.  We  witness  without  a  shudder  the  wanton  be- 
heading of  a  carnation,  and  some  of  us  can  swallow  a  live 
oyster,  or  boil  a  living  lobster,  without  compunction.  But 
the  closer  we  come  to  our  sensitive  selves,  the  more  sym- 
pathetic we  grow;  we  never  boil  a  live  lamb.  And  though 
we  train  horses  to  serve  us,  we  no  longer  permit  them  to  be 
abused.  These  higher  creatures  have  minds  somewhat  like 
our  own.  We  realize  that  they  are  to  some  extent  sharers 
of  our  common  life,  and  therefore  should  not  be  made  mere 
means  to  our  pleasure,  but  have  some  right  to  their  own 
career  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  They 
are  of  use  to  themselves. 

This  is  emphatically  the  case  with  the  precious  little 
animals  called  children.  A  wit  has  described  education  as  a 
means  of  defense  against  the  rising  generation.  But  if  we 
seriously  wished  to  do  so,  we  could  keep  our  children  in  the 
toils  as  we  do  our  horses,  could  subdue  them  all  as  effec- 
tively. No;  we  wish  to  develop  each  member  of  this  rising 
generation  according  to  his  own  nature,  so  as  to  make  him 
most  useful  to  himself y — and  to  others  like  him,  his  fellow 
men. 

We  ought,  then,  to  discover  some  very  practical  truths 
about  the  aim  of  education,  by  considering  what  our  parents 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL  39 

and  teachers  did  for  us.  Certainly  we  do  not  wish  that  they 
had  tried  to  make  us  all  over  according  to  their  own  arbi- 
trary ideas.  We  can  see  that  the  only  wise  way  was  for  them 
to  accept  us  as  nature  formed  us  and  make  the  most  of  the 
material,  working  along  the  lines  nature  laid  down  for  us. 
Whether  we  were  large  or  little,  of  great  intellect  or  small, 
two-talent  or  ten-talent  children,  the  only  sensible  thing  for 
them  to  do  was  to  develop  us  according  to  our  own  nature, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  us  most  useful  to  ourselves  and  our 
fellow  men. 

What  the  next  generation  expects  from  us. — There  seem 
to  be  three  weighty  questions  which  we  may  well  ask  of  our 
parents  and  teachers,  and  which  each  member  of  the  rising 
generation  (when  it  has  risen)  will  put  to  us: 

1.  "Have  you  given  me  health  and  the  knowledge  of  how 
to  care  for  it?" 

2.  "Did  you  teach  me  morality,  the  art  of  living  with  my 
fellow  men?" 

3.  "Did  you  study  my  personal  traits,  my  tastes,  abil-' 
ities,  talents,  aptitudes,  tendencies,  and  help  me  to  find  the 
kind  of  life,  the  vocation,  in  which  I  could  be  most  useful  and 
happy?" 

These  three  questions  point  to  the  fact  that  education  is  of 
three  essential  kinds,  physical,  moral  (or  social),  and  voca- 
tional.* 

Physical  education. — It  is  just  as  impossible  to  have  a 
good  mind  without  a  good  brain,  as  it  is  to  have  a  good 
electric  current  without  a  good  dynamo.  But  this  good 
brain  must  be  nourished  by  an  abundance  of  rich,  red  blood; 


*  These  three  kinds  of  education  overlap  somewhat.  For  instance, 
morality  demands  that  one  keep  himself  healthy  if  he  mingles  with 
others.  But  their  overlappings  only  emphasize  what  is  most  essential. 


40  '  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

and  such  a  blood  stream  is  found  only  in  a  body  whose 
organs  do  their  duty.  Great  muscular  strength  is  not  neces- 
sary, but  health  is.  The  giant-minded  invalid  is  a  rare 
exception.  Physical  education  constitutes  the  very  corner 
stone  of  a  good  education, 

Moral  education-. — It  would  profit  us  little  if,  having 
learned  to  be  healthy  and  intelligent  animals,  we  fell  to  and 
destroyed  each  other;  or  if  our  passions  were  so  rampant 
as  to  ruin  our  whole  future  through  present  recklessness 
and  barbaric  debauchery.  We  must  learn  sometimes  to 
sacrifice  a  present  satisfaction  for  the  sake  of  a  greater  one 
to  come;  and  to  subordinate  our  personal  selves,  if  neces- 
sary, that  the  social  good  may  be  increased.  The  art  of 
conduct  which  we  hope  to  teach  to  our  pupils  consists  in 
so  ordering  private  life  and  public  business  as  to  achieve 
the  majrimiiTn  of  good  for  all. 

Vocational  education. — Moral  education  furnishes  merely 
guidance  and  control,  not  the  fire,  the  drive,  the  force  to  be 
controlled.  It  is  the  track,  and  not  the  engine.  For  in- 
dividual motive  power  we  must  look  largely  to  vocational 
purpose. 

Unfortunately,  the  term  "  vocational"  is  often  used  as  if 
it  meant  "industrial,"  or  "manual."  or  "wage-earning." 
One's  vocation  is  his  railing  be  it  preaching,  fishing,  or 
nailing  on  horseshoes.  It  should  be  one's  inherent  life 
purpose,  what  his  Creator  apparently  made  him  for,  what 
his  talents  fit  him  for.  what  he  can  do  best,  his  opportunity 
not  merely  to  gain  money  or  reputation  but  to  serve  society. 
Right  here  should  be  the  center  drive  of  education,  so  far 
as  the  individual  is  concerned.  We  cannot  insist  too 
strongly  on  the  primacy  of  vocational  purpose.  With 
some,  this  may  mean  nothing  more  than  the  procuring  of 


THE  EDUCATIONAL   IDEAL  41 

the  daily  bread  and  butter;  but  in  most  cases  the  earning 
of  a  living  will  be  but  one  pleasant  part  of  the  living  of  a  life. 

What  we  expect  from  the  next  generation. — If  the  rising 
generation  have  a  right  to  expect  so  much  of  us  in  these 
three  directions,  shall  we  not  also  expect  much  of  them? 
When  they  arrived  among  us  they  found  here  a  society  of 
people  pretty  well  organized,  with  all  our  social  institutions, 
family,  school,  government,  business,  and  the  like,  ready 
to  serve  them.  Had  they  been  born  among  Eskimos  or 
Bushmen  they  would  have  opened  their  eyes  on  a  very 
different  environment.  What  we  call  their  "social  inheri- 
tance" would  hardly  have  been  worth  quarreling  about. 

Herein  lies  the  charm  of  such  stories  as  Robinson  Crusoe, 
and  The  Man  without  a  Country:  they  make  us  see  the  aw- 
fulness  of  losing  our  social  inheritance.  To  live  without 
family,  friends,  church,  library,  news,  daily  occupation,  and 
human  cooperation  and  sympathy  is  almost  to  be  entombed 
alive. 

They  who  have  received  an  education,  having  enjoyed 
such  a  goodly  heritage,  should  aim  to  pass  it  on,  not  merely 
preserved  intact,  but  enriched,  increased.  They  are  debtors 
who  should  pay  their  debt  by  serving  society, — and  society 
is  all  of  us.  Our  educational  ideal  then  is  to  develop  each 
child,  according  to  his  nature,  so  as  to  make  him  most 
useful  socially. 

However,  we  must  not  regard  the  developing  process  as  a 
dull  and  grievous  period,  to  be  endured  only  for  the  bright 
prospect  of  social  usefulness  later.  Education  is  com- 
monly thought  of  as  "preparation  for  complete  living." 
So  it  is;  but  the  troublesome  question  arises,  When  does 
one  attain  to  complete  living?  The  child  looks  ever  for- 
ward, the  college  graduate  with  equal  eagerness  expects  a 


42  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

larger  life,  the  dying  man  cherishes  as  his  fondest  hope  the 
vision  of  a  life  beyond  that  shall  continue  this  fragmentary 
existence.  Little  children  and  rosebuds  are  both  complete 
in  their  undeveloped  way;  both  are  doubtless  all  they  were 
meant  to  be  for  the  time.  So  life  is  at  every  stage  complete, 
yet  it  is  at  every  stage  awaiting  completion. 

Development  may  be  figured  as  a  cone  expanding  with- 
out limit.  The  aim  is  not  merely  the  last  step  of  the  jour- 
ney, the  final  process  in  a  series:  it  is  present  at  all  stages, 
even  from  the  very  beginning,  as  the  law  of  life  around 


which  all  our  activities  are  organized.  Our  aim  is  something 
which  is  being  constantly  realized,  yet  which  draws  us  ever 
onward:  it  is  development  for  greater  usefulness. 

The  mischief  of  such  an  ideal  as  that  of  "preparation" 
is  that  it  is  likely  to  result  in  deferred  living,  the  sacrifice  of 
childhood  as  an  unreal  thing,  to  be  utilized  merely,  pos- 
sessing no  ends  of  its  own.  So  the  college  looks  upon  the 
preparatory  school  as  merely  preparatory;  "real"  education 
lies  above  and  beyond.  The  high  school  has  the  same 
superior  regard  for  the  grammar  school,  and  so  on -down. 
But  we  must  not  despise  any  stage  of  growth,  nervously 
looking  to  the  future  as  the  only  place  where  good  is  to  be 
found.  Every  stage  should  be  regarded  as  both  an  end  ii? 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL  43 

itself  and  a  preparation  for  what  is  to  follow.  The  world 
is  coming  to  believe  that  the  best  preparation  for  the  future, 
whether  an  immediate  or  a  far-away  future,  is  hearty, 
happy,  worthy  living  right  here  and  now.  If  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances  we  cannot  make  the  present  seem  good, 
we  are  not  likely  to  succeed  much  better  with  the  future  we 
long  for. 

What  we  all  live  for. — Every  year  of  life,  whether  lived 
as  cooing  babe,  or  boy  at  school,  or  lover,  or  snowy-haired 
sage,  should  be  worth  living  purely  for  its  own  sake.  The 
end,  the  aim,  the  purpose  of  life,  that  which  society  as  well 
as  the  individual  lives  for,  is  just  life  itself  and  ever  more 
life.  If  it  were  mere  brutish,  animal  life,  we  should  not 
want  it.  No  one  would  desire  to  be  even  the  liveliest 
beast  or  sea  serpent.  Our  yearning  is  for  abundant  soul 
life.  Our  deepest  desire  is,  not  only  that  we  lose  nothing  of 
our  present  soul  growth,  but  that  we  may  constantly  ex- 
pect larger  thinking  and  greater  joys. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  How  came  you  by  your  educational  ideal? 

2.  State  what  you  think  must  have  been  the  educational 
ideals  of   some   historical   peoples,    say  the   Greeks  and 
Romans. 

3.  Will  our  educational  ideals  be  apt  to  satisfy  posterity 
a  hundred  years  from  now?    Why? 

4.  State  some  differences  between  your  social  inheritance 
and  that  of  your  grandfather.    Try  to  anticipate  that  of 
the  grandchildren  of  the  present  generation. 

5.  Is  it  worth  while  to  build  an  ideal  which  you  think  is 
impossible  of  realization?    Why? 

6.  Who  is  likely  to  be  more  useful  socially,  one  who 


44  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

insists  on  spending  his  time  with  us,  or  one  who  works 
quietly  for  our  welfare? 

7.  Give  instances  of  reformers  who  have  served  society 
by  defying  and  opposing  it. 

8.  Does  your  ideal  mean,  for  the  most  part,  having  things, 
or  being  and  doing?    Illustrate. 

9.  Should  our  purpose  be  to  reduce  the  world  to  a  state 
of  standstill  perfection?    Or  is  it  possible  that  there  should 
be  eternal  progress,  an  ever- widening  stream  of  good  things? 

10.  Try  to  define  what  you  mean  by  the  word  "culture." 
Does  it  mean  the  same  as  education? 

1 1 .  Do  you  know  any  young  people  who  regard  education 
as  a  means  of  escaping  the  hard  work  which  the  uneducated 
will  have  to  perform?     What,   then,  if  education  were 
universal? 

12.  Can  one  develop  according  to  his  nature,  if  he  is  not 
allowed  to  choose  his  courses  of  study?    What  bearing  has 
this  on  electives? 

REFERENCES 

Bagley,  William  Chandler,  The  Educative  Process,  Ch.  III. 

Dewey,  John,  Ethical  Principles  Underlying  Education, 
pp.  1-15. 

Eliot,    Charles  William,   Educational  Reform,   Ch.   XVIII. 

,  "  The  Value  during  Education  of  the  Life-career  Mo- 
tive;" Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  1910, 
pp.  133-141. 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Education  as  Adjustment,  Chs.  IV,  V,  VI. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  Education. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Education,  Chs.  I-III. 


PART  TWO 

METHOD  AS  DETERMINED  BY 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  CHILD 


CHAPTER  V 
PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

"The  crying  need  of  the  hour  is  to  get  educators  to  recognize  the 
fundamental  importance  of  all  forms  of  physical  training  and  bodily 
activity,  as  a  basis  for  the  cultivation  of  the  higher  mental  and  moral 
faculties."  * 

EXERCISES. — Keep  a  record  of  the  time  spent  by  some 
child  (or  children)  in  (i)  physical  and  (2)  mental  activity 
during  a  day  in  school,  and  a  corresponding  record  for  the 
same  length  of  time  when  there  is  freedom  for  independent 
choice  of  activity.  If  possible,  compare  a  week  or  a  month 
in  school  with  the  same  period  during  a  long  vacation,  and 
study  a  considerable  number  of  children,  to  make  the  re- 
sult more  trustworthy. 

Which  provides  the  better  program,  the  school  or  the 
children?  Why? 

Several  investigators  have  found  that  there  is  usually  an 
arrest  or  retardation  of  physical  development  during  the  first 
school  year,  and  also  that  the  death  rate  among  children 
increases  at  this  time.t  What  do  you  think  causes  this? 

Purpose  of  physical  education. — Let  us  recall  the  three 
kinds  of  education  found  necessary  for  all,  physical,  moral, 
and  vocational.  One  may  develop  and  train  his  body  (i) 
for  the  sake  of  body,  or  (2)  for  moral  and  social  reasons, 
or  (3)  for  vocational  purposes. 

*  Dudley  A.  Sargent,  Physical  Education.  Used  by  permission  o! 
Ginn  and  Company,  publishers. 

t  Robert  R.  Rusk,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  Ch.  III. 

47 


48  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

(1)  While  it  is  no  mean  thing  to  possess  a  fine  form,  and 
to  enjoy  the  powerful  play  of  large,  rolling  muscles,  yet 
the  greatest  physical  strength  and  the  greatest  mental 
strength  are  not  necessarily  found  in  the  same  body.    It  is  a 
mistake  to  regard  the  body  as  a  seductive  and  tempting 
enemy,  to  be  starved  and  ill-treated;  it  is  equally  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  heavy  athletics  will  of  itself  insure  the  de- 
velopment of  a  great  mind  or  a  weighty  personality. 

The  body,  then,  should  (i)  furnish  the  basis,  the  support 
of  mental  life,  and  (2)  serve  as  a  vibrant,  responsive  in- 
strument for  the  expression  of  mind,  as  the  violin  aids  in 
creating  and  expressing  its  music. 

(2)  Physical  culture  has  a  direct  effect  on  moral  conduct. 
A  successful  digestive  system  and  other  internal  organs  are 
favorable  to  kindly  feeling;  and  will  finds  a  stable  support 
in  well-disciplined  muscles  and  vigorous  blood  stream.    No 
one  whose  habits  of  eating,  sleeping,  and  exercising  are 
very  defective,  is  apt  to  remain  thoroughly  moral  in  other 
respects. 

(3)  Various  vocations  require  many  different  physical 
qualities,  such  as  size,  strength,  endurance,  agility,  skill, 
and  grace.    It  is  unfortunate  that  some  of  these,  usually 
strength  and  endurance,  are  often  demanded  in  such  excess 
as  to  interfere  with  the  mental  life.    Indeed,  not  even 
the  highest  degrees  of  strength,  activity,  and  grace  are  ever 
found  in  the  same  individual.    However,  let  each  be  devel- 
oped "according  to  his  nature";  there  is  abundant  room 
for  him  who  feels  that  he  can  serve  society  best  by  using 
his  physical  powers  chiefly. 

But  a  man's  value  is  graded  by  (i)  the  moral  tone,  (2) 
the  energy,  and  (3)  the  intelligence  and  skill  which  he  can 
throw  into  his  work.  All  these  qualities  abide  chiefly  in 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  40 

the  nervous  system.  Physical  education,  then,  does  not 
mean  muscular  education  alone:  we  should  work,  first  and 
foremost,  for  the  development  of  the  best  possible  nervous 
system. 

Relation  between  muscular  and  nervous  development. — 
In  some  of  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life  the  nerve  cells  are 
not  joined  to  form  a  "system"  at  all,  but  are  formed  in 
isolation  in  various  parts  of  the  body,  imbedded  in  muscle. 
One  may  almost  say  it  is  muscle  that  calls  brain  into  exist- 
ence; and  throughout  the  animal  kingdom  there  is  a  close 
relation  between  the  two  systems,  nervous  and  muscular, 
in  their  development.  The  cells  of  the  brain  would  re- 
main forever  asleep,  inactive,  were  they  not  stimulated  from 
without.  If  an  infant's  sense  organs  and  muscles  could  be 
prevented  from  sending  messages  to  his  brain,  he  would 
never  have  enough  mind  to  deserve  the  name. 

Just  how  much  of  this  waking-up  process  is  due  to  the 
muscles  we  cannot  tell,  but  it  is  certainly  large.  Puppies 
that  are  compelled  to  dig  for  their  food  develop  larger  and 
better  brains  than  those  which  have  their  food  thrown  ta 
them.  Sargent  found,  during  his  four  years'  teaching  at 
Yale  University,  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  that 
division  of  his  classes  which  ranked  highest  in  scholarship 
did  not  stand  first  in  the  all-round  work  of  the  gymnasium. 

In  no  way  known  to  science  can  any  difference  be  dis- 
covered between  sensory  brain  cells,  which  have  to  do  with 
our  thinking,  and  motor  cells,  which  guide  our  movements. 
Mosso  believes  that  thought  power  and  the  power  of  mus- 
cular control  reside  in  the  very  same  cells.  He  asserts  that 
"  the  more  mobile  the  extremities  of  an  animal  are,  the  more 
intelligent  it  is."  He  points  out  also  that  many  great  art- 
ists were  apprenticed  to  goldsmiths,  under  whom  they 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 4 


50  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

practiced  fine  handiwork.  "I  am  convinced,"  he  says,* 
that  muscular  movements  have  formed  the  omnipotence  of 
genius." 

Gulick  reminds  us  that  from  one  third  to  one  half  the 
brain  surface  is  concerned  in  making  muscles  contract, 
but  he  says  that  "this  does  not  prevent  these  parts  of  the 
brain  from  being  used  in  other  ways  also."  He  thinks  the 
motor  brain  may  be  a  sort  of  battery  for  the  other  centers, 
but  furnishing  endurance  rather  than  force,  f 

The  conclusion  is  this:  whenever  we  employ  our  muscles 
under  the  guidance  of  intelligence,  we  are  either  (i)  waking 
up  the  very  brain  cells  that  do  our  thinking;  or  (2)  we  are 
improving  the  "  batteries"  on  which  these  thinking  cells 
depend  for  their  efficiency.  If  the  first  is  true,  it  furnishes 
one  of  the  strongest  of  arguments  for  manual  training  and 
kindred  arts.  But  in  either  case  muscular  activity,  physi- 
cal education  of  some  kind,  is  indispensable. 

Physical  education  should  follow  the  order  of  muscular 
and  nervous  development. — The  larger  muscle  groups 
develop  first,  with  the  consequence  that  the  young  child, 
instead  of  exercising  isolated  muscles,  should  be  more  of  a 
unit  of  activity.  First,  the  large  muscles  of  the  trunk  should 
receive  attention,  then  those  of  the  limbs.  The  correspond- 
ing nerve  centers  develop  in  the  same  order.  Nerve  centers 
for  the  control  of  activities  performed  at  birth  are  ready 
to  function  at  birth.  Says  Gulick:  "The  motor  centers  for 
the  control  of  the  skeletal  muscles  develop  in  the  order  of 
their  distance  from  the  trunk;  thus,  shoulder  before  elbow, 


*  Angelo  Mosso,  Psychic  Processes  and  Muscular  Exercise,  pp.  383- 
407  of  Clark  University  Decennial  Celebration  Volume,  1899. 

t  Luther  H.  Gulick,  Physical  Education  by  Muscular  Exercise,  p.  19. 
Used  by  permission  of  Blakiston  and  Sons,  publishers. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  51 

elbow  before  wrist,  wrist  before  fingers.  .  .  .  The  interest 
the  child  shows  in  special  forms  of  activity  is  an  excellent 
guide  to  the  order  of  development  of  the  motor  activities." 
This  author's  words  are  so  clarifying  that  it  seems  wise 
to  quote  him  at  greater  length: 

"This  order  of  development  of  the  nervous  system  is  important 
with  reference  to  educational  gymnastics,  because  otherwise  they  are 
abnormal.  Nothing  but  disaster  can  be  expected  if  we  attempt  to 
force  motor  education  out  of  its  natural  order.  The  education  of  any 
part  is  best  done  when  that  part  is  ripening.  If  this  is  accomplished, 
the  part  may  be  further  perfected  at  any  time  during  later  life.  If  it 
is  not  accomplished,  the  part  can  never  be  made  to  reach  its  highest 
development  by  later  education.  The  development  of  the  motor 
areas  for  the  trunk  takes  place  during  the  first  two  or  three  years  of 
life.  The  arms  and  legs  are  pretty  well  under  control  at  the  age  of  five 
or  six.  The  interest  of  boys  in  marbles;  in  all  forms  of  machinery;  in 
throwing,  shooting,  and  similar  exercises,  indicates  the  growth  of  the 
finer  motor  areas  between  the  years  of  seven  and  twelve.  The  interest 
of  girls  during  the  same  years  in  sewing  and  playing  with  dolls,  which 
involve  the  finer  activities,  is  an  indication  in  a  similar  direction.  The 
activity  of  the  speech  center  begins  early,  but  has  its  greater  develop- 
ment within  the  first  three  or  four  years.  When  special  attention  is 
given  to  specific  exercises  demanding  skill  in  distal  groups  of  muscles 
before  the  more  proximal  muscles  have  been  trained,  we  often  find 
neuroses  supervening.  Dr.  Hartwell  has  made  extended  studies  in 
regard  to  stammering  and  stuttering  in  this  relation.  In  former  days 
those  destined  for  a  musical  career  were  put  at  their  special  work — for 
instance,  on  the  violin — at  as  early  an  age  as  four;  but  experience  has 
shown  that  such  education  ought  not  to  be  begun  until  the  child  is 
seven  or  eight  years  of  age.  This  experience  is  in  accord  with  the 
neurologic  fact  just  mentioned,  that  the  motor  centers  for  the  fingers 
and  wrist  begin  to  acquire  special  activity  after  the  age  of  eight  years. 
The  selection  of  voluntary  exercises  for  the  development  of  this  neu- 
romuscular  mechanism  ought,  then,  to  be  practically  completed  be- 
fore the  boy  or  girl  reaches  the  teens,  for  the  apparatus  is  pretty  well 
developed  by  that  time.  Gymnastics,  so  called,  affect  chiefly  the 


52  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

larger  groups  of  muscles.  The  finer  groups  concerned  in  independent 
finger  movements,  activities  of  the  larynx,  facial  and  tongue  move- 
ments, are  not  trained  by  gymnastics;  their  exercise  must  of  necessity 
come  in  other  ways.  The  playing  of  games  of  children  .  .  .  involves 
the  discipline  of  these  motor  centers.  .  .  ."  * 

Some  general  principles  of  physical  exercise.f — i.  The 

general  effect  of  muscular  exercise,  that  is  the  effect  on  the 
vital  organs,  is  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  foot  pounds 
of  work  performed.}  We  must  use  the  largest  and  strongest 
muscles  and  muscle  groups,  in  trunk,  shoulders,  and  thighs, 
and  make  them  work,  if  we  wish  to  quicken  the  action  of  the 
heart  and  lungs.  We  get  the  best  results,  so  far  as  health 
is  concerned,  not  when  we  merely  go  through  motions,  such 
as  finger  flexions  and  gestures  of  a  gentle  nature,  but  when 
we  push,  pull,  throw,  lift  something  that  furnishes  a  "load." 
When  we  move  the  body  or  its  larger  parts,  as  in  rising  on 
our  toes,  it  can  be  made  to  furnish  its  own  load.  The  load 
we  give  a  muscle  should  vary  according  to  health  and 
strength,  and  with  the  length  of  time  the  muscle  works. 
The  longer  it  is  active,  the  smaller  should  the  load  be. 

A  good  practical  test  to  use  during  or  after  the  exercise 
period,  to  tell  whether  there  has  been  overwork,  is  to 
"notice  the  hands  when  held  with  fingers  extended  and 
free  from  each  other,  the  arm  being  held  away  from  the 
body.  If  the  fingers  are  trembling,  there  has  probably  been 
too  much  effort." 

2.  The  position  demanded  by  the  muscles  and  ligaments 

*  Luther  H.  Gulick,  Physical  Education  by  Muscular  Exercise, 
pp.  20,  21.  Used  by  permission  of  Blakiston  and  Sons,  publishers. 

t  For  a  fuller  statement  of  these  principles,  see  pp.  10-17  of  Gulick's 
work,  quoted  above. 

J  A  foot  pound  of  work  is  the  amount  of  work  performed  in  lifting 
one  pound  to  the.  height  of  one  foot. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  53 

during  exercise  is  likely  to  be  continued  during  rest.  More- 
over, the  kind  of  power  or  skill  demanded  by  an  exercise 
will  of  course  be  developed  by  that  exercise.  Our  muscular 
(and  to  some  extent,  mental)  vocations  stamp  themselves 
in  our  bodies. 

3.  When  working  for  general  effect,  that  is  the  effect  on 
the  vital  organs,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  cramp  those 
organs.     Effort  causes  the  blood  vessels  to  swell  and  in- 
creases internal  pressure.    This,  if  the  organs  are  cramped, 
leads  to  labored  and  irregular  heart  action,  and  influences 
unfavorably,  digestion  and  the  peristaltic  movement  of  the 
intestines.    Under  proper  conditions  the  agitation  of  these 
organs,  as  by  running,  is  very  desirable. 

4.  Oxygen  breathed  into  the  lungs  is  not  necessarily  used 
by  the  body,  any  more  than  is  food  when  swallowed  into 
the  stomach.    Bodily  processes,  especially  exercise,  should 
create  a  demand  for  these  things.    Of  course,  moving  the 
diaphragm  is  one  form  of  exercise,  and  unused  air  in  the 
lungs  is  probably  harmless.    There  is,  however,  no  evidence 
to  show  that  any  considerable  quantity  of  oxygen  can  be 
stored  in  the  body  and  held  for  use  as  required;  it  must  be 
breathed  in  from  moment  to  moment,  as  it  is  needed. 

5.  Consciousness  is  not  necessary  in  order  to  secure  the 
general  effects  of  muscular  exercise.  One  could  exercise  with 
profit  when  asleep  or  hypnotized,  so  far  as  the  vital  proc- 
esses are  concerned.    The  more  our  exercise  can  be  made 
automatic,  the  less  the  drain  on  our  nerve  energy.    Nervous 
fatigue  is  closely  related  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  higher 
brain  centers;  the  lower  centers  do  not  tire  easily.    The  best 
exercises  for  nervous  people  are  those  that  can  be  made 
automatic,  rhythmic,  playful. 

Nervous  children  should  not  be  given   exercises   that 


54  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

demand  concentrated  attention  and  quick  response  to  com- 
mands. Wherever  it  is  desirable  to  economize  nervous 
force,  there  should  be  few  directions,  the  exercises  being 
taken  largely  by  imitation,  memory,  or  play.  This  shows 
how  futile  it  is  to  expect  to  secure  rest  and  recreation  by 
turning  from  mental  tasks  to  exercise  that  demands  close 
attention  and  quick  response  in  following  commands. 
Experiment  shows  that  such  formal  gymnastics  are  more 
fatiguing,  to  most  children,  than  anything  else  in  the  curric- 
ulum save  mathematics. 

6.  Whenever  a  high  degree  of  consciousness  is  for  any 
reason  necessary  or  desirable,  it  should  be  as  pleasurable  as 
possible.  As  a  college  student,  Garfield  found  that  working 
for  wages  in  a  carpenter  shop  would  not  take  the  place  of 
the  recreative  exercises  demanded  by  student  life.  They 
great  value  of  games  for  children  is  at  once  apparent.  The 
father  is  wrong  when  he  argues  that  his  son  can  take  exer- 
cise just  as  profitably  by  splitting  wood  as  by  playing  ball  or 
skating. 

Individuality  in  physical  education. — Physical  culturists 
often  speak  of  " perfect"  development;  but  there  is  no  one 
standard  of  physical  perfection  for  all.  We  should  not  take 
too  seriously  the  tables  of  averages  and  statistics  of  what 
one  " ought"  to  weigh  and  measure  at  a  given  age  or  height. 
That  is  " perfect"  for  us  which  fulfils  our  purpose.  There 
may  be  thousands  of  perfect  human  forms,  all  different, 
each  answering  its  own  purpose.  Not  all  men  should  feel 
called  to  be  very  strong,  nor  all  women  to  be  very  weak. 
Let  each  be  developed,  according  to  his  nature,  so  as  to 
make  him  most  socially  useful. 

Physical  education  for  children. — The  most  important 
fact  to  build  on  here  is  that  the  child  is  for  the  most  part 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  55 

instinctive  in  his  actions.  He  is  largely  a  bundle  of  racial 
habits  that  will  have  their  way;  he  is  full  of  stored-up 
charges  of  energy  ready  to  go  off  with  a  bang,  on  due  stim- 
ulation. 

Because  of  this  reign  of  instinct — especially  the  instincts 
of  play,  imitation,  and  wandering — games,  sports,  " hikes," 
and  similar  exercises  must  hold  first  place  in  the  physical 
education  of  childhood  and  youth,  especially  if  we  are  to 
secure  that  indispensable  mental  accompaniment,  interest. 
Of  course  these  exercises  should  be  supervised,  and  they 
should  often  be  gymnastic  as  well  as  recreative. 

Games  need  supplementing,  however,  with  more  carefully 
organized  work.  Many  children  who  play  much  are  still 
defective  in  form,  shambling  in  gait,  awkward  in  movement. 
But  the  index  to  the  child's  physical  culture  exercises  should 
always  be  his  developing  instincts  and  interests.  The  order 
of  the  development  of  muscles  and  muscle  groups  has  al- 
ready been  indicated. 

Some  day,  perhaps,  we  shall  be  able  to  study  each  child 
with  regard  to  his  physical  condition  and  habits,  to  see  that 
he  has  information  on  topics  pertaining  to  physical  welfare, 
and  to  develop  in  him  a  worthy  physical  ideal.  Work  may 
be  prescribed  for  him  individually,  work  that  will  enter 
intimately  into  his  personal  life,  and  include  a  program  of 
daily  health  habits,  not  omitting  those  practiced  at  home. 
Periodical  physical  examinations  will  reveal  what  is  accom- 
plished. 

The  teacher  must  learn  the  details  of  heating,  lighting, 
ventilating,  seating,  posture,  and  other  matters  of  school 
hygiene.  She  should  make  clear  to  the  children  all  this 
health  practice,  and  why  it  goes  on,  by  informal  talks,  and 
by  such  permission  to  help  as  will  make  them  feel  that  they 


56  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

are  really  participating  citizens  in  a  small  hygienic  common- 
wealth. By  such  means,  and  through  parents'  meetings, 
the  homes  can  be  invaded  with  hygienic  ideas,  and  all  be 
made  to  feel  that  health  is  as  valuable  at  home  as  at  school. 
Playgrounds. — We  have  found  how  much  play  means  to  a 
child,  and  playgrounds  mean  no  less.  It  seems  unbelievable 
that  adults  who  were  ever  children  should  build  school- 
houses  tightly  wedged  in  between  other  structures,  like  a 
man  cramped  in  a  crowd.  We  have  forgotten  that  mul- 
titudes of  children  no  longer  have  the  play  privileges  at 
home  that  were  enjoyed  when  the  great  majority  lived  in 
the  country.  Looked  at  from  any  angle,  moral,  social, 
economic,  or  pedagogic,  the  playground  pays.  Fortunately 
the  movement  towards  adequate  playgrounds  is  now  wide- 
spread. We  are  fast  reaching  the  conclusion  that  play 
space  for  the  young — a  square  rod  for  each — is,  if  possible, 
more  important  than  work  space. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Do  you  follow  a  personal  daily  program?    If  so,  what 
place  do  you  give  to  physical  exercise?    Have  you  planned, 
or  had  an  expert  plan  for  you,  a  program  of  physical 
culture? 

2.  Observe  and  describe  the  gait  and  carriage  of  persons 
who  are  devoted  to  heavy  athletics.    Do  you  find  the  same 
characteristics  in  the  case  of  all-round  athletes? 

3.  Was  your  exercise,  when  you  were  a  child,  properly 
conducted?    If  not,  how  could  it  have  been  improved? 

4.  Which  do  you  think  is  more  favorable  to  brain  develop- 
ment, great  strength,  or  intricate,  all-round  muscular  coor- 
dination?   Why? 

5.  Where  would  you  expect  to  find  the  finer  minds,  in  a 
group  of  football  players  or  a  group  of  tennis  players?   Why? 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  57 

6.  At  one  of  our  large  universities  a  thousand  dollars  a 
year  is  spent  on  each  athlete,  while  but  four  dollars  a  year 
is  spent  on  the  physical  education  of  the  average  student. 
What  meaning  do  you  draw  from  this? 

7.  Have  you  the  kind  of  body  and  health  you  would  like 
your  pupils  to  possess?    If  not,  how  can  you  get  them? 

8.  It  has  been  said  that  there  are  four  types  of  student, 
the  athlete,  the  sport,  the  scholar,  and  the  idler.    Does  this 
agree  with  your  observations? 

9.  What  differences  have  you  noticed  between  the  sports 
of  boys  and  those  of  girls?    Do  you  think  you  could  teach 
boys  to  play  the  girls'  games  and  vice  versa?      Why? 

10.  How  do  you  feel  now  with  regard  to  the  games  you 
played  as  a  child?    Why? 

11.  Select  ten  students  who  take  very  heavy  exercise, 
ten  who  exercise  daily  but  moderately,  and  ten  who  exer- 
cise very  little.    In  which  group  do  you  find  most  muscle? 
Which  group  do  you  find  most  alert  mentally? 

12.  Note  the  following  points  concerning  yourself  (a) 
when  you  have  neglected  your  exercise,  and  (b)  when  you 
have  exercised  properly:  courage,  kindly  feeling  for  others, 
ability  to  concentrate,  memory,  thought  power. 

REFERENCES 

Bancroft,  Jessie  Hubbell,  School  Gymnastics. 
Dodworth,  Allen,  Dancing  and  Its  relation  to  Education  and 
Social  Life. 

Gulick,  Luther  Halsey,  Physical  Education  by  Muscular  Exer- 
cise. 

— ,  "  Interest  in  Relation  to  Muscular  Exercise  ";  American 
Physical  Education  Review,  June,  1902. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  Youth:  Its  Education,  Regimen  and  Hy- 
giene. 

Johnson,  Geo.  Ellsworth,  Education  by  Plays  and  Games. 

McCurdy,  James  Huff,  Bibliography  of  Physical  Training. 


58  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Mero,  Everett  B.,  American  Playgrounds.  (Contains  bib- 
liography.) 

Rapeer,  Louis  W.  (Editor),  Educational  Hygiene. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  Ch. 
III. 

Sargent,  Dudley  A.,  Physical  Education. 

,  Health,  Strength  and  Power. 

American  Physical  Education  Review.    (Files.) 


CHAPTER  VI 
HOW  THE  MIND  WORKS 

"Psychology  is  a  science,  and  teaching  is  an  art;  and  sciences  never 
generate  arts  directly  out  of  themselves.  An  intermediary  inventive 
mind  must  make  the  application,  by  using  its  originality." 

"For  the  great  majority  of  you  a  general  view  is  enough,  provided 
it  be  a  true  one;  and  such  a  general  view,  one  may  say,  might  almost 
be  written  on  the  palm  of  one's  hand."  * 

EXERCISE. — Think  of  anything  you  please, — a  castle,  a 
fairy  palace,  another  moon  for  the  earth.  Analyze  your 
idea.  For  example,  tell  all  the  sounds,  colors  (and  dimen- 
sions), touches,  smells,  and  tastes  that  can  be  experienced 
about  your  castle.  Do  you  find  any  that  have  not,  at  some 
time,  formed  a  part  of  your  own  experience? 

Before  the  discovery  of  America,  do  you  think  anyone 
ever  dreamed  of  being  attacked  by  Indians  just  like  our 
American  Indians?  Why? 

Having  dealt  with  the  general  method  of  caring  for  the 
child's  body  and  making  it  a  fit  support  for  his  mental 
powers,  we  turn  now  to  a  brief  and  sweeping  view  of  these 
powers  themselves.  These  powers  are  the  child:  he  is  not  a 
body  merely,  with  a  mental  lodger  in  the  upper  story  of  it; 
he  is,  ultimately,  his  thoughts  and  feelings.  To  know  him, 
we  must  understand  them,  and  that  means  that  we  must 
study  psychology,  the  science  of  human  nature.  That  we 

*  William  James,  Talks  to  Teachers.  Used  by  permission  of  Henry 
Holt  and  Company,  publishers. 

59 


60  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

shall  do  in  the  present  chapter  in  an  introductory  way, 
preparing  for  the  treatment  later  of  various  phases  of  mind 
and  the  method  of  dealing  with  them. 

The  mental  and  the  environmental. — All  through  our 
early  education  our  attention  is  likely  to  be  fixed  on  things 
outside  our  minds,  on  plants,  animals,  minerals,  land,  wa- 
ter, on  everything  that  enters  into  our  environment.  But 
when  we  try  to  educate  others,  we  have  on  our  hands  a  new 
problem;  we  must  know  how  their  minds  work.  Even  when 
the  pupil  is  so  confused  over  a  lesson  that  he  cannot  tell 
where  his  trouble  lies,  the  teacher  must  be  quick  to  detect 
it  and  skillful  to  guide  him  through  it.  The  best  way  to  find 
help  on  this  problem  is  to  learn  first  how  our  own  minds 
work.  We  must  turn  our  attention  from  the  environmental 
to  the  mental. 

We  have  all  observed  our  own  minds  in  a  cursory  kind  of 
way,  just  as  we  all  saw  flowers  before  we  studied  botany. 
Even  a  small  boy  can  tell  whether  he  is  hungry,  or  has  a 
toothache;  and  hunger  and  pain  are  mental.  Your  friend's 
"How  are  you?"  and  the  physician's  "How  do  you  feel  to- 
day?" are  really  requests  for  you  to  introspect,  literally 
look  within,  examine  your  own  mind,  and  tell  what  you  find 
there.  But  just  as  in  botany  we  learn  to  look  at  the  flowers 
more  carefully  and  to  give  each  plant  its  place  in  a  plan  that 
includes  them  all,  so  we  must  observe  the  mind  minutely 
and  find  how  all  its  machinery  fits  together. 

One  of  the  largest  and  most  important  facts,  and  one  of 
the  easiest  to  .observe,  is  that  your  mind  is  a  kind  of  moving- 
picture  machine.  It  is  full  of  "pictures"  of  things  found  in 
the  world  around  you,  the  mental  pictures  of  the  environ- 
mental. In  the  figure,  let  the  circle  represent  the  environ- 
ment, and  let  the  brain  facing  it  be  yours.  Then  this  brain 


HOW  THE  MIND  WORKS  6 1 

contains  your  mind  also,  for  mind  dwells  in  the  brain. 
T  is  any  object  in  the  outside  world;  /  is  the  mental  picture 


THE  WORLD  BRAIN:  THE  HOME  OF  MIND 

of  this  object.  C  is  a  color  as  it  flashes  before  the  eye; 
c  is  its  mental  duplicate.  The  object  may  last  long  after  our 
mental  photograph  of  it  has  faded;  or  we  may  preserve  a 
clear  mental  picture  of  something  long  since  destroyed,  say 
the  doll  or  the  ball  of  childhood  days.  So  we  learn  to  sep- 
arate sharply  between  objects  and  our  experience  of  objects. 
Objective  and  subjective. — These  two  words  have  a  large 
use  in  the  teacher's  vocabulary.  Objective  refers  to  the 
object- world,  the  environmental;  subjective  to  the  mental, 
to  the  "subject"  who  has  a  given  experience.  Objective 
means  "pertaining  to  the  object  experienced";  subjective 
means  "pertaining  to  the  experience  itself."  My  thought 
of  home  is  subjective;  the  home  itself,  objective.  One's 
nose  is  objective;  the  smell  of  a  rose,  subjective.  Subjective 
also  is  the  pain  in  one's  stomach,  while  the  stomach  itself 
is  objective.  * 

*  If  there  is  doubt  as  to  whether  anything  is  subjective  or  objective, 
we  can  always  decide  by  this  simple  test:  Could  the  thing  in  question, 
under  any  circumstances,  be  observed  by  others,  as  even  one's  heart, 
or  one's  stomach  might  be?  Or  is  this,  like  my  pain  or  my  thoughts, 


62  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

The  mind  is  like  a  factory. — A  factory  can  only  do  its 
work  by  opening  its  doors  to  the  outside  world.  Had  these 
doors  remained  shut  the  factory  would  never  have  run.  Its 
work  consists  in  (i)  taking  in  raw  material,  lumber,  leather, 
or  what  not,  and  (2)  working  up  this  material  into  new  prod- 
ucts, shoes,  furniture,  and  the  like.  The  factory  cannot 
create  any  material  outright;  it  can  only  take  what  comes 
and  organize  this  into  a  new  form. 

So  the  mind  must  open  its  doors  of  sight,  hearing,  and 
other  senses  to  the  outside  world.  Had  these  doors  re- 
mained shut,  the  mind  would  have  remained  inactive  and 
speechless, — perhaps  we  ought  to  say  there  would  have 
been  no  mind.  The  work  of  our  mental  factory  consists  in 
(i)  taking  in  raw  material,  sights,  touches,  sounds,  and  the 
like;  and  (2)  working  up  this  material  into  new  products, 
poems,  essays,  conversations,  thoughts,  and  imaginings  of 
all  kinds.  The  mind  cannot  create  any  such  material  out- 
right; it  can  only  take  what  comes  and  organize  this  into  a 
new  form. 

Let  us  think  of  anything  we  please,  say  a  winged  horse 
with  eyes  of  fire.  Here  is  no  new  mental  material,  for  we 
have  seen  horses,  eyes,  fire,  wings.  What  the  mind  has 
contributed  is  a  new  arrangement  of  old  bits  of  experience. 
Moving-picture  films  are  sometimes  cut  up  and  pieced  to- 
gether to  make  a  new  picture  story.  The  mind,  also,  can 
do  this  cutting  and  piecing.  Indeed,  it  can  divide  so  mi- 
nutely and  recombine  so  deftly  as  to  form  a  patchwork  pic- 
ture that  would  quite  discourage  a  photographer.  But  it 
can  make  no  thoroughly  new  film  without  exposure  to  the 
outside  world. 


observable  by  me  only?    In  other  words,  is  it  open  to  inspection  by 
many,  or  introspection  by  one  only? 


HOW  THE  MIND  WORKS  63 

Perception  and  idea. — The  taking-in  process  of  our 
mental  factory  is  called  perception.  The  manufactured 
product  always  takes  the  form  of  ideas  of  some  kind. 

When  Wordsworth  "saw  a  crowd,  a  host,  of  golden  daffo- 
dils," he  was  making  mental  pictures  rapidly,  "ten  thou- 
sand" at  a  glance!  In  psychological  language,  he  was  per- 
ceiving. But  all  the  senses  may  be  used:  one  may  put 
hand  in  pocket  and  perceive  a  coin  by  touch,  may  perceive 
the  music  of  "Annie  Laurie"  by  hearing,  and  so  on.  A 
perception  is  the  freshly  received  experience  of  something 
in  our  presence. 

Later,  our  poet,  lying  on  his  couch  "in  vacant  or  in  pen- 
sive mood,"  finds  that  the  daffodils  still  "flash  upon  the 
inward  eye,"  though  the  outward  eye  is  closed.  He  now  has 
ideas  of  the  daffodils.  An  idea  is  a  mental  picture  of  some- 
thing not  present  to  the  senses.  But  such  revived  experi- 
ence need  not  always  be  a  mere  copy  of  something  we  have 
previously  perceived;  we  can  form  new  pictures  from  our 
old  mental  material,  as  in  the  case  of  the  winged  horse  with 
the  fiery  eyes.  How  is  this  possible? 

Sensation. — It  becomes  possible  by  separating  our  men- 
tal materials  into  very  simple  parts  and  then  recombining 
these  parts,  somewhat  as  a  galley  of  type  in  a  printing  office 
may  be  broken  into  "pi"  and  then  set  up  in  new  forms. 
These  bits  of  experience  are  called  sensations.  Examples  are 
the  color  blue,  or  red,  a  simple  smell,  taste,  touch,  tone.  As 
was  said  before,  these  fragments  of  experience  always  come 
to  us  in  the  first  place,  through  some  "door"  of  our  mental 
factory,  that  is,  through  some  bodily  organ.  A  sensation 
is  a  simple  bit  of  experience  which  we  refer  to  some  par- 
ticular bodily  organ. 

There  is  a  striking  difference,  however,  between  a  sensa- 


64  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

tion  as  we  receive  it  fresh  through  the  sense  organ,  and  the 
same  sensation  revived  later  without  using  the  sense  organ. 
The  first,  the  fresh  sensation,  is  called  an  impression;  the 
revived  impression  is  an  image.  By  day,  you  get  an  impres- 
sion of  the  blue  of  the  sky,  clear,  strong,  persistent.  At 
night,  perhaps,  with  eyes  closed,  you  call  back  the  image 
of  the  blue,  but  find  it  hazy,  faded,  and  flickering,  as  com- 
pared with  its  original.  An  image,  then,  is  a  resurrected 
impression,  a  kind  of  ghost  of  an  impression.  * 

Composition  of  perceptions  and  ideas. — In  the  figure,  let 
each  small  circle  stand  for  a  sensation.  The  solid  black 
circles  represent  impressions;  the  open  ones  represent  the 
weaker,  revived  impressions,  that  is,  images. 


PERCEPTION  IDEA 

From  what  has  been  said  it  is  evident  that  a  perception 
is  composed  of  impressions.  You  perceive  an  apple.  In 
the  perception  one  of  the  black  dots  represents  the  taste 

*  We  must  take  care  not  to  be  misled  by  some  of  the  common  uses  of 
these  words.  A  sensation  is  not  a  wave  of  excitement  that  rolls 
through  a  whole  community,  as  when  some  startling  news  "creates  a 
sensation."  An  impression  is  not  a  lump  judgment,  such  as  we  have 
when  we  speak  of  our  "general  impression"  of  a  person  or  place.  An 
image  is  not  a  complex  picture;  we  do  not  image  a  whole  automobile, 
but  only  its  color,  or  the  sound  of  its  horn.  Our  idea  of  the  automobile 
is  composed  of  many  images.  As  a  sensation  is  perfectly  simple,  so  is 
an  impression,  which  is  a  freshly  received  sensation,  and  an  image,  an 
old  sensation. 


HOW  THE  MIND  WORKS  65 

of  the  apple,  others  its  color,  touch,  smell,  size,  etc.  A 
perception  is  a  group  of  impressions.* 

Similarly,  an  idea  is  composed  of  images.  You  have  an 
idea  of  a  golden  apple.  Here  the  images  are  those  of  golden 
color,  hardness,  and  so  on.  An  idea  is  a  group  of  images. 

An  outline  of  the  making  of  ideas. — It  may  help  us  to 
form  a  clearer  view  of  the  processes  involved  in  our  mental 
manufacturing,  if  we  arrange  them  in  tabular  form. 

f  Seeing 
i.  Collecting  material:  Perception    \  Hearing 

[Etc. 


2.  Combining  material:  Association 


Remembering 

Imagining 

Thinking 


It  is  evident,  from  the  second  part  of  this  table,  that  when 
we  associate  our  ideas  (more  accurately,  our  sensations), 
they  unite  to  form  memories,  imaginings,  thoughts.  Asso- 
ciation and  its  three  forms  will  be  studied  in  the  chapters 
that  follow. 

What  of  "  the  feelings  "  ? — In  the  outline  above  there  is 
no  mention  of  anything  like  joy,  sorrow,  love,  or  hate, 
commonly  spoken  of  as  "the  feelings."  And  these  are  very 
important.  But  we  shall  find  that  for  the  most  part  the 
child's  "feelings"  follow  the  course  of  his  sensations,  per- 
ceptions, and  ideas.  For  example,  show  him  a  flag  and  you 
arouse  his  patriotism.  Because  of  this,  in  educating  children 
we  are  more  directly  and  immediately  concerned  with 

*  There  are  cases  in  which  a  single  impression,  such  as  the  smell  of 
an  apple  in  the  dark,  arouses  many  images,  and  seems,  with  these 
images,  to  form  a  perception.    But  a  "pure  perception,"  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  is  composed  of  impressions  only. 
Science  and  Art  of  Teaching — 5 


66  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

perceptions  and  ideas  than  with  the  "feelings."    Accord- 
ingly we  shall  leave  their  study  until  later. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Does  a  story  such  as  Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland 
take  you  into  a  world  that  is  entirely  new?    Prove  your  an- 
swer. 

2.  What  is  the  difference  between  mind  and  brain?    Why 
are  not  minds  preserved  in  museums,  as  bodies  are?    Can- 
not a  library  or  a  collection  of  phonograph  records  be 
thought  of  as  a  museum  of  minds? 

3.  Is  there  sound  at  Niagara  Falls  when  no  one  is  there  to 
hear  it?    (A  hint:  Objective,  or  physical  sound  consists  of 
vibrations  in  the  air;  subjective,  psychological  sound  con- 
sists of  sensations.) 

4.  Analyze  some  of  your  common  perceptions  into  their 
constituent  impressions. 

5.  Do  you  receive  any  impressions  that  the  lower  animals 
cannot  have?    Wherein  lies  the  great  difference  between 
your  mental  factory  and  theirs? 

6.  Make  a  list  of  toys  for  young  children,  designed  to 
give  them  all  the  different  impressions  possible  through 
every  sense  organ. 

7.  Make  up  two  lists,  one  appropriately  headed  Objective, 
the  other  Subjective. 

8.  Mention  games  which  seem  to  you  valuable  for  the 
cultivation  of  impression,  perception,  or  imagery. 

9.  When  one  sees  a  new  or  curious  object,  why  does  he 
usually  wish  to  handle  it?    Answer  in  terms  of  impressions. 

10.  Why  does  modern  teaching  make  so  much  use  of 
pictures,  models,  and  handwork? 

u.  In  a  southern  climate,  where  snow  never  falls,  how 
would  you  teach  the  subject  of  snow? 

12.  A  philanthropic  gentleman  wishes  to  employ  you  to 


HOW  THE  MIND  WORKS  67 

teach  color  to  children  who  have  been  blind  from  birth. 
Will  you  accept  the  position? 

13.  In  your  study  of  literature,  note  how  much  depends 
on  keenness  of  impression  and  vividness  of  imagery. 

Consider  the  following: 

"When  Napoleon  saw  Moscow  burn,  it  could  not  have  been  more 
brilliant  than  when  I  saw  the  fourteen  hundred  turrets  aflame  with 
the  sunset;  and  there  were  roofs  of  gold  .  .  .  and  architecture  of  all 
colors  mingling  the  brown  of  autumnal  forests  and  the  blue  of  summer 
heavens,  and  the  conflagration  of  morning  skies,  and  the  emerald  of 
rich  grass,  and  the  foam  of  tossing  seas." 

T.  De  Witt  Talmage,  The  Bells  of  Moscow. 

REFERENCES 

Angell,  James  Roland,  Chapters  from  Modern  Psychology. 

Betts,  George  Herbert,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education,  Ch.  I. 

Galton,  Francis,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty  and  Its  Develop- 
ment. 

James,  William,  Talks  to  Teachers,  Chs.  I-V. 

Titchener,  Edward  Bradford,  Primer  of  Psychology,  Chs.  I, 
III,  IV. 

Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  Chs.  VI,  XVII; 
also  pp.  396-401. 


CHAPTER  VII 
COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL:  PERCEPTION 

"The  training  of  the  senses  is  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  training 
of  the  higher  powers  of  mind.  Comenius  said:  'There  is  nothing  in 
the  mind  that  is  not  first  in  the  senses.'  Accurate  sense  perceptions 
are  the  best  and  indeed  the  only  preliminaries  to  accurate  reasoning. 
The  mind  can  erect  a  substantial  intellectual  edifice  upon  a  small  basis 
of  sensation,  but  there  must  be  some  sensory  basis.  The  teacher  who 
tries  to  train  the  powers  of  judgment  and  reasoning  upon  incomplete 
and  inaccurate  sense  perceptions  is  like  the  man  who  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand.  The  wise  teacher  endeavors  to  build  up  the  intel- 
lectual edifice  upon  the  rock  of  well-ordered  and  carefully  trained 
sense  percepts."  ! 

EXERCISES. — Have  you  ever  known  of  a  painter  who  was 
blind  from  birth,  or  a  musician  who  was  congenitally  deaf? 
Do  you  think  such  talent  would  be  possible?  Are  mutes 
usually  incapable  of  speech,  or  more  like  those  people  who 
cannot  use  tools  because  they  have  not  learned  how?  Try 
to  explain  such  facts  as  you  find. 

Draw  (or  describe)  from  memory  some  object  with  which 
you  are  familiar,  giving  many  details.  Compare  your 
production  with  the  original.  Explain  your  success  or 
failure. 

Poverty  of  the  pupil's  mind. — Frequently  we  fail  in 
teaching  because  our  pupils  have  in  their  minds  no  material 
from  which  to  manufacture  the  ideas  we  are  trying  to  teach 

*  Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom.  Used  by  per- 
mission of  Longmans,  Green  and  Company,  publishers. 

68 


COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  69 

them.  One  investigation  *  showed  that  about  half  the 
children  did  not  know  a  sheep,  or  a  river,  or  the  origin  of 
butter;  more  than  one  third  did  not  know  what  clouds  were, 
and  nearly  two  thirds  did  not  recognize  a  spade.  Some 
stated  that  butterflies  make  butter,  or  that  it  comes  from 
buttercups,  and  that  kittens  grow  on  pussy  willows. 

From  such  studies,  G.  Stanley  Hall  concludes  it  is  unsafe 
for  a  teacher  to  assume  that  children,  when  they  enter 
school,  know  much  of  anything  that  will  help  them  in  their 
school  tasks.  He  thinks  the  wisest  thing  a  parent  can  do 
before  sending  a  child  to  school  is  to  get  him  acquainted 
with  natural  objects,  especially  those  found  in  the  country. 
He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  a  child  at  the  age  of  five  or 
six  may  get  more  education  from  a  few  days  spent  in  the 
country,  than  from  a  term  or  two  of  school  without  such 
contact  with  the  country. 

Clearly,  the  child's  perceptive  powers  are  in  danger  of 
being  too  little  exercised. 

Objects  before  words. — If  we  view  education  superficially 
we  may  be  tempted  to  think  that,  like  Hamlet's  reading,  it 
is  just  a  matter  of  " words,  words,  words."  But  words 
give  us  only  secondhand  information;  the  words  of  another 
can  have  no  meaning  for  us  except  in  terms  of  our  own  di- 
rect experience.  Even  pictures  are  misunderstood.  Chil- 
dren who  have  never  seen  a  cow  sometimes  think,  from 
looking  at  a  picture  in  a  primer,  that  a  cow  is  about  as 
large  as  a  mouse.  Objects  before  words,  in  education;  we 
must  practice  perception  first. 

It  is  amusing  to  hold  up  two  fingers  before  a  class  of 
students  and  ask  them  to  interpret  the  sign.  Hardly  a  girl 
knows  the  meaning,  while  among  the  boys  a  grin  goes 
*  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Aspects  of  Child  Life  and  Education,  Ch.  I. 


70  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

round.  It  is  evident  at  once  that  the  grinners  have  passed 
through  some  experience  which  the  non-grinners  have  not 
enjoyed,  and  that  the  two  fingers  are  a  sign  of  that  expe- 
rience. The  girls  do  not  understand  because  they  have 
never  had  the  experience,  have  never  used  this  sign  as  a 
cryptic  invitation  to  "go  swimming!"  A  sign,  without  the 
experience  for  which  it  stands,  is  meaningless. 

Now  all  words  are  signs,  and  like  the  swimming  signal 
are  meaningless,  unless  one  has  had  the  experience  they  are 
designed  to  call  up.  It  is  easier  to  carry  words  around  with 
us  than  to  carry  the  objects  for  which  they  stand,  just  as  it 
is  easier  to  carry  money,  the  symbol  of  value,  than  to  load 
ourselves  down  with  the  valuables  themselves.  For  this 
reason  we  learn,  in  time,  to  use  words  as  substitutes  for 
things. 

To  illustrate:  A  child  of  a  year  or  so  frequently  plays  with 
a  ball  and  at  the  same  time  hears  the  word  "ball"  used  re- 
peatedly. The  impressions  (redness,  roundness,  etc.)  re- 
ceived from  the  ball  come  to  be  associated  with  the  word,  so 
that  either  calls  up  the  other.  On  hearing  the  word  "ball" 
when  the  object  is  not  in  his  presence,  the  perception  is 
revived  in  the  form  of  an  idea.  The  word  is  a  sign  which 
brings  back  the  old  experience;  and  if  pronounced  to  others 
who  have  had  similar  experience,  it  is  to  them  a  sign  of  what 
the  speaker  has  in  his  mind. 

But  if  the  original  impressions  have  never  been  received, 
it  is  as  impossible  for  a  word  to  call  up  an  image,  as  it  is  for  a 
photographer  to  find  a  picture  on  the  sensitive  plate  which 
,has  never  been  exposed.  Impression  must  precede  image. 
This  is  one  of  the  first  truths  in  teaching.  Of  course  some 
objects  we  have  never  seen  are  sufficiently  like  those  we 
have  seen  to  enable  us  to  imagine  the  unseen  with  some 


COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  71 

success.  But  the  man  blind  from  birth  cannot  be  taught 
color,  nor  can  the  congenitally  deaf  appreciate  tone,  as  we 
who  hear,  know  it.  Whatever  the  range  and  vividness  of 
our  imagination,  it  can  never  supply  the  lack  of  a  large 
amount  of  first-hand  experience. 

11  Feed  the  growing  human  being,"  says  James,  "feed  him 
with  the  sort  of  experience  for  which  from  year  to  year  he 
shows  a  natural  craving,  and  he  will  develop  in  adult  life  a 
sounder  sort  of  mental  tissue,  even  though  he  may  seem  to 
be  'wasting'  a  great  deal  of  his  growing  time,  in  the  eyes  of 
those  for  whom  the  only  channels  of  learning  are  books  and 
verbally  communicated  information."  * 

Keep  the  sense  organs  in  order. — If  the  child  is  to  obtain 
news  of  the  external  world  he  must  have  efficient  organs 
through  which  to  acquire  it.  Children  who  have  defective 
eyes  or  ears  are  not  likely  to  suspect  that  they  cannot  see  or 
hear  so  well  as  others,  and  pathetic  cases  are  all  too  fre- 
quent, of  young  sufferers  who  have  gone  on  for  years  vainly 
struggling  to  hold  their  place  in  competition  with  normal 
children. 

It  often  requires  a  special  test  to  reveal,  even  to  the 
practiced  teacher,  the  fact  that  some  of  her  pupils  cannot 
see  the  blackboard  plainly  or  hear  an  ordinary  voice  dis- 
tinctly. Simple  tests  for  eye  and  ear  are  easily  given,  and 
should  be  applied  by  the  teacher  even  if  not  required  in  her 
school  system.t 


*  William  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  148.  Used  by  permission  of 
Henry  Holt  and  Company,  publishers. 

f  For  a  discussion  of  these  and  related  matters,  from  the  practical 
standpoint  of  the  teacher,  see  Everyday  Pedagogy,  by  Lillian  I.  Lincoln. 
For  a  complete  list  of  educational  tests,  discussed  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  technical  scientist,  see  Guy  Montrose  Whipple's  Manual 
of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests. 


72  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Test  cards  for  the  eye,  with  directions  for  using  them,  can 
be  secured  from  your  local  or  state  superintendent,  or  from 
any  optician.  Ears  can  be  tested  sufficiently  for  schoolroom 
purposes  by  placing  the  pupil  at  a  distance  of  twenty  feet, 
with  his  back  toward  you  (to  prevent  lip  reading),  and 
asking  him  to  repeat  what  you  say.  Use  a  low  tone  or  a 
loud  whisper.  Test  each  ear  separately  by  having  him 
hold  his  hand  closely  over  the  unused  ear. 

Cases  of  serious  defect,  or  of  apparent  disease,  should  be 
tactfully  reported  to  parents. 

Sense  training. — Sense  training,  that  is,  the  general  exer- 
cise of  the  senses  for  no  particular  purpose  except  to  wake 
up  the  senses,  is  valuable  for  infants.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  time  will  come  when  all  mothers  will  start  their  chil- 
dren's education  with  such  happy  exercises  long  before 
school  age.  The  eyes  of  the  one-  or  two-year-old  should  be 
presented  with  all  the  colors  and  with  pleasing  combina- 
tions of  color;  his  ears  with  all  the  tones  of  the  scale,  mel- 
odies, and  harmonies;  his  skin  and  muscles  with  objects  that 
give  him  great  variety  of  touch  and  movement.  Even 
smell  and  taste  should  not  be  neglected.  If  such  sense 
training  is  not  provided  at  home,  we  must  furnish  it  at 
school.  For  the  child,  this  is  a  warm  and  lively  world  of 
things  that  bounce,  slide,  roll,  run,  squawk,  boom,  clatter, 
sing,  flash,  flutter,  shimmer,  and  thrill, — in  other  words,  a 
world  of  perceptions. 

But  sense  training  of  this  general  kind  should  never  be 
given  a  prominent  place  in  school  exercises  for  normal 
children.  It  is  too  much  like  musical  training  which  teaches 
us  to  play  no  instrument  in  particular,  but  bids  us  bang  and 
thrum  and  blow  a  few  notes  on  each,  to  wake  up  the  musical 
faculty  in  general. 


COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  73 

Perception  with  a  purpose. — We  have  learned  that  the 
scientist,  before  he  sets  to  work  to  collect  material,  usually 
knows  what  he  is  to  collect  it  for.  A  problem  is  to  be  solved, 
a  project  worked  out;  he  is  like  the  builder  who  has  a  gap 
in  his  wall  and  is  searching  for  a  stone  of  correct  shape  to 
fill  it. 

It  is  just  as  useless  for  a  child  as  it  is  for  an  adult,  to 
attempt  to  perceive  minutely  everything  in  the  environ- 
ment. The  child,  like  the  scientist,  should  observe  with 
some  question  in  mind.  And  this  problem  should  be  the 
pupil's  problem,  not  merely  a  task  imposed  upon  him  by 
the  teacher.  Observations  made  just  because  we  are  di- 
rected to  make  them  are  not  likely  to  electrify  us  very  much: 
they  must  connect  in  some  vital  way  with  what  we  as  in- 
dividuals actually  want  to  do. 

"What  decides  the  choice  in  observation  is  not  what 
strikes  the  senses,  not  the  intensity  or  liveliness  of  external 
stimuli,  but  the  circle  of  interest  of  the  child."  .  .  .  Any- 
thing which  has  no  interest  for  the  child  may  be  seen  a 
hundred  or  a  thousand  times  without  becoming  a  mental 
possession."  *  A  boy  is  likely  to  observe  the  ice  on  the 
skating  pond  much  more  appreciatively  than  he  does  the 
moral  mottoes  on  the  schoolhouse  walls. 

Further,  by  watching  carefully  what  kinds  of  objects  a 
child  seeks  and  observes  with  most  persistence  and  pleas- 
ure, we  can  obtain  a  good  index  to  his  personality.  Nature 
has  made  every  child  a  little  specialist  in  his  desires.  It  is 
true  that  he  is  usually  so  overpowered  by  the  influence  of 
his  elders  (on  whom  he  must  depend  for  his  every  gratifi- 


*  Robert  R.  Rusk,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  pp.  73, 
76.  Used  by  permission  of  Longmans,  Green  and  Company,  pub- 
lishers. 


74  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

cation,  and  even  his  life),  that  they  can  work  up  in  him  an 
interest  in  almost  anything.  But  leave  him  to  himself  and 
he  elects  his  own  course.* 

Education  proceeds  most  rapidly  when  the  teacher  pays 
the  greatest  possible  heed  to  such  natural  selection;  and  the 
sum  total  of  choices  and  their  outcome  gives  us  deep  in- 
sight into  the  real  nature  of  the  little  subject  and  his  future 
possibilities. 

Perception  lessons. — From  what  has  preceded,  we  can 
draw  the  following  practical  directions: 

1.  Make  clear  in  your  own  mind  and  in  the  mind  of  the 
pupil,  the  purpose  of  the  endeavor,  what  to  look  for.    Stick 
to  this  purpose  unless  you  find  something  of  great  and  unu- 
sual importance  that  cannot  wait  for  later  attention.    If  a 
class  is  going  on  an  excursion,  a  description,  drawing,  or 
sample  of  what  is  to  be  looked  for  will  aid  materially.    A 
specific  question  or  set  of  questions  to  be  answered  by  ob- 
servation is  likely  to  increase  interest  in  the  undertaking. 

2.  Get  at  the  real  object  whenever  possible.    Why  stop 
with  sand  models  and  pictures  of  mountains  if  we  can  climb 
the  eternal  hills  themselves?    This  means,  of  course,  that 
we  must  make  many  excursions.    The  public  must  learn 
that  pupils  are  not  necessarily  wasting  their  time  when 
seen  out  of  doors  during  school  hours.    The  teacher  must 
learn  to  conduct  these  excursions  so  as  to  waste  no  time. 

3.  Use  as  many  senses  as  can  reasonably  be  called  into 
play,  but  especially  "  the  muscular  sense,"  touch,  sight,  and 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  selection  of  activities  of  a  four-year- 
old  of  my  acquaintance,  who  has  so  far  resisted  all  efforts  to  interest 
him  in  music  and  musical  instruments,  and  makes  no  real  attempt  to 
sing,  but  will  stand  for  twenty  minutes  at  a  stretch  observing  one  of 
his  butterflies,  and  will  weep  at  its  death.  At  the  same  time  he  likes 
stories  of  Indian  boys  better  than  those  of  pickaninnies,  because  the 
Indians  are  "fierce!" 


COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  75 

hearing.  Nor  should  the  pupil  wait  for  the  teacher  to  point 
out  all  items  of  interest.  Each  should  make  a  personal 
attack  on  the  matter  in  his  own  way. 

4.  Let  the  children  do  something  about  the  situation, 
climb  the  hill,  taste  the  apple,  bounce  the  ball.    Each  may 
do  something  different,  so  long  as  there  is  order  and  har- 
mony and  seriousness  in  it  all;  one  may  use  his  camera, 
another  his  sketchbook,  another  collect  notes  for  a  descrip- 
tion, another  gather  specimens. 

5.  Let  vocabulary  grow  with  experience:  use  the  new 
name  while  exploring  the  new  objects.    Then  these  new 
words  will  enter  readily  into  the  child's  vocabulary,  and 
uttered  later,  will  raise  ideas  of  the  objects. 

6.  Much  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  training  children  to 
take  in  a  large  portion  of  the  environment  instantaneously, 
by  requiring  a  report  after  permitting  a  glance  at  a  number 
of  objects  in  the  hand  or  on  a  table,  which  are  then  covered 
again.    Pictures  may  be  used  in  the  same  way.    Houdin's 
method  with  his  son  is  of  this  nature.* 

Other  mental  processes  may  be  aroused  at  pleasure  during 
a  perception  lesson.  We  may  revive  ideas  of  other  objects 
and  experiences,  and  make  comparisons.  Feelings  appro- 
priate to  the  occasion  may  be  excited.  For  example,  obser- 
vation of  the  rabbit  may  lead  to  consideration  of  its  treat- 
ment as  a  pet.  Later  the  objects  observed  may  be  made 

*  "  My  son  and  I  passed  rapidly  before  a  toy  shop,  or  any  other  dis- 
playing a  variety  of  wares,  and  cast  an  attentive  glance  upon  it.  A 
few  steps  farther  on  we  drew  paper  and  pencil  from  our  pockets,  and 
tried  which  could  describe  the  greater  number  of  objects  seen  in 
passing.  I  must  own  that  my  son  reached  a  perfection  far  greater 
than  mine,  for  he  could  often  write  down  forty  objects  seen  in  passing, 
while  I  could  scarce  reach  thirty.  Often  feeling  vexed  at  this  defeat,  I 
would  return  to  the  shop  and  verify  his  statement,  but  he  rarely  made 
a  mistake."  Robert  Houdin,  Second  Sight. 


76  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  subject  of  conversation,  writing,  drawing,  modeling, 
constructing.  And  finally  the  resulting  experience  may  be 
used  as  material  for  thought.  Laboratory  work  is  really 
a  use  of  the  perceptive,  or  "objective"  method,  but  largely 
as  a  stimulus  for  thinking. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Suggest  suitable  object  lessons  for  (a)  mathematics, 
(b)  science,  (c)  history,  (d)  language,  (e)  art. 

2.  How  can  a  country  child  best  be  taught  concerning 
city  life,  and  vice  versa? 

3.  What  part  should  questioning  play  in  the  objective 
method? 

4.  Write  out  a  list  of  exercises  for  mothers  to  give  their 
children  of  pre-school  age,  in  order  to  develop  all  the  senses. 

5.  A  child  is  left  in  your  charge  to  be  educated.    How 
would  you  choose  objects  for  his  study? 

6.  Tell  some  child  you  will  buy  him  any  object  he  selects 
in  a  ten-cent  store.    Does  the  result  give  you  any  insight 
into  his  nature?    Would  it  if  you  could  repeat  the  experi- 
ment many  times? 

7.  What  do  you  think  are  the  danger  points  of  school 
excursions  for  purposes  of  observation? 

8.  Is  any  special  course  in  "  sense  training"  or  "  object 
lessons"  necessary?    Or  can  all  this  be  incorporated  with  the 
instruction  in  the  usual  branches? 

9.  A  child,  being  told  to  draw  an  object,  returns  next  day 
with  a  photograph  of  it,  taken  by  himself.     Should  this 
substitute  be  accepted?     Give  reasons. 

10.  How  do  you  feel  when  an  entirely  strange  word  is 
used  in  your  presence,  the  word  comestibles  for  example? 
Can  you  explain  this  feeling? 

11.  Do  you  know  of  any  people  who  have  gathered  much 


COLLECTING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  77 

information,  but  who  seem  to  be  unable  to  use  it  to  ad- 
vantage?   What  may  be  the  trouble  in  such  cases? 

12.  Which  is  likely  to  prove  better  in  clearing  up  an  ob- 
scure point  for  a  class,  the  teacher's  verbal  explanation,  or 
a  concrete  illustration  with  objects?    Why? 

13.  The  King  of  Siam  could  not  believe  that  water  would 
become  so  hard  as  to  hold  up  his  elephants.    Why  was  this? 

REFERENCES 

Bolton,  Frederick  Elmer,  Principles  of  Education,  Ch.  XVII. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  Chs.  VI, 
VII. 

James,  William,  Talks  to  Teachers,  Ch.  XIII. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education, 
Chs.  V,  VI. 

Schaeffer,  Nathan  C,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think, 
Ch.  III. 

Strayer,  George  Drayton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process, 
Ch.  V. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Education,  §  38. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL:  ASSOCIATION 

"Thus,  for  instance,  after  looking  at  my  clock  just  now  (1879),  I 
found  myself  thinking  of  a  recent  resolution  in  the  Senate  about  our 
legal-tender  notes.  The  clock  called  up  the  image  of  the  man  who  had 
repaired  its  gong.  He  suggested  the  jeweller's  shop  where  I  had  last 
seen  him;  that  shop,  some  shirt  studs  which  I  had  bought  there;  they, 
the  value  of  gold  and  its  recent  decline;  the  latter,  the  equal  value  of 
greenbacks,  and  this,  naturally,  the  question  of  how  long  they  were  to 
last,  and  of  the  Bayard  proposition.  Each  of  these  images  offered 
various  points  of  interest.  Those  which  formed  the  turning  points  of 
my  thought  are  easily  assigned.  The  gong  was  momentarily  the  most 
interesting  part  of  the  clock,  because,  having  begun  with  a  beautiful 
tone,  it  had  become  discordant  and  aroused  disappointment.  But 
for  this,  the  clock  might  have  suggested  the  friend  who  gave  it  to  me, 
or  any  one  of  a  thousand  circumstances  connected  with  clocks.  The 
jeweller's  shop  suggested  the  studs,  because  they  alone  of  all  its  con- 
tents were  tinged  with  the  egoistic  interest  of  possession.  This 
interest  in  the  studs,  their  value,  made  me  single  out  the  material  as 
its  chief  source,  etc.,  to  the  end.  Every  reader  who  will  arrest  himself 
at  any  moment  and  say,  'How  came  I  to  be  thinking  of  just  this/ 
will  be  sure  to  trace  a  train  of  representations  linked  together  by  lines 
of  contiguity  and  points  of  interest  inextricably  combined.  This  is 
the  ordinary  process  of  the  association  of  ideas  as  it  spontaneously 
goes  on  in  average  minds."  * 

EXERCISE. — Pronounce,  or  have  a  friend  pronounce  for 
you,  any  common  word,  and  observe  carefully  what  it  makes 
you  "  think  of."  Try  to  explain  why  the  resulting  images 

*  William  James,  Principles  of  Psychology.  Used  by  permission  of 
Henry  Holt  and  Company,  publishers. 

78 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  79 

are  called  up,  why  these  instead  of  others.    Try  this  with 
the  word  "fire." 

We  have  likened  the  mind  to  a  factory  which  receives 
material  through  the  doorways  of  the  senses  and  then 
works  it  up  into  various  products.  We  have  studied  per- 
ception, the  method  of  gathering  this  material,  and  shall 
now  take  up  association,  the  combining  or  manufacturing 
process. 

It  will  be  recalled  (see  page  63)  that  we  separate  our 
mental  pictures  into  bits  of  experience  called  sensations, 
colors,  tones,  tastes,  and  the  like.  These  unit  bits  of  ex- 
perience are  then  re-combined,  associated,  to  form  new 
pictures.  *  How  is  this  brought  about? 

The  machinery  of  association. — When  we  look  at  a  road 
map  of  any  much-traveled  country,  we  find  its  highways 
intersecting  and  crisscrossing  in  all  sorts  of  intricate  ways. 
If  we  could  have  our  brains  charted,  we  should  doubtless  see 
a  much  more  mazy  labyrinth  than  any  road  map  ever 
showed.  No  one  knows  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  brain 
"path" — it  would  probably  be  nearer  the  truth  to  speak 
of  brain  wires;  but  the  idea  called  up  by  paths  and  the 
way  in  which  paths  are  worn  makes  it  easy  for  us  to  picture 

*  Bill  Nye  furnishes  an  illustration  of  this  in  his  humorous  theory  as 
to  how  the  portrait  of  any  man  whatever  seems  to  be  made  up  on 
demand  in  the  printing  office.  There  are  supposed  to  be  interchange- 
able parts,  consisting  of  "one  pair  eyes  (with  glasses),  one  pair  eyes 
(plain) ,  one  Roman  nose,  one  Grecian  nose,  one  turn-up  nose,  one  set 
whiskers  (full),  one  moustache,  one  pair  side- whiskers,  one  chin,  one 
set  large  ears,  one  set  medium  ears,  one  set  small  ears,"  etc.,  from  all 
which  can  be  made  up  the  faces  of  "clergymen,  murderers,  senators, 
embezzlers,  artists,  dynamiters,"  etc.  (Bill  Nye's  Red  Book.  Used  by 
permission  of  Charles  C.  Thompson  Company,  publishers.)  What- 
ever is  done  in  newspaper  offices,  our  minds  have  just  such  sets  of 
images,  and  we  make  up  our  mental  pictures  on  this  very  plan,  albeit 
not  quite  so  mechanically. 


8o  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

to  ourselves  the  part  which  the  brain  plays  in  the  associa- 
tion process. 

When  water  flows  with  moderate  force  for  a  long  time, 
or  with  great  momentum  for  a  short  tune,  through  some 
channel  capable  of  erosion,  there  is  cut  out  a  passage  which 
is  likely  to  be  followed  by  all  succeeding  streams.  Similarly 
when  a  paper  has  been  well  creased  by  folding,  it  will  there- 
after double  most  easily  along  the  old  lines. 

The  brain  forms  habits,  ways  of  acting,  paths, — call 
them  what  we  will.  It  does  most  easily  what  it  has  done 
before.  To  take  a  classic  illustration:  suppose  the  baby 
sees  a  candle,  which  excites  brain  cell  C,  and  thereupon  re- 
ceives a  burn  from  it,  which  excites  brain  cell  B;  the  next 
time  he  sees  the  candle  a  nervous  current  will  sweep  along 
the  association  fiber  C-B,  and  baby  will  think  at  once  of 
his  former  burn  and  be  wiser  than  he  was  before.  There 
is  much  truth,  then,  in  the  humorous  remark  that  a  man  who 
is  bitten  twice  by  the  same  dog  probably  is  not  good  for 
much  else.  If  his  brain  is  of  such  poor  quality  that  an 
experience  like  that  will  not  set  up  a  lasting  brain  path, 
then  nothing  will  ever  stick;  he  is  uneducable.  The  reason 
why  experience  is  often  the  best  teacher  is  because  it  is 
more  certain  to  plow  out  such  useful  brain  paths.  We 
may  recall  here,  too,  that  character  first  meant  a  stamp, 
scratch,  or  something  of  similar  kind.  One's  character,  as 
represented  in  his  brain,  is  the  sum  total  of  the  scratches, 
the  brain  paths  found  there. 

The  laws  of  association. — The  most  general  law  of  asso- 
ciation is  that  whenever  two  experiences  have  been  in  the 
mind  together,  each  of  them,  on  returning,  tends  to  bring 
back  the  other.  " Winter"  calls  up  "snow";  " Christmas " 
brings  to  mind  a  picture  of  Santa  Claus. 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL 


8l 


But  any  idea,  such  as  "Fourth  of  July,"  may  have  been 
experienced  along  with  a  host  of  others,  as  suggested  by 
the  diagram.  Now,  while  all  of  these,  according  to  our  law, 
tend  to  come  back  to  mind  when  the  Fourth  is  mentioned, 
it  would  overtax  our  mental  capacity  to  entertain  them  all 
at  once.  Only  the  strongest  can  survive  in  the  struggle. 

Fireworks 


Accident 


Flag' 


iJJ 

T     J 

sane 
^\. 

Ind 

^^•-* 

-\             ^^ 

Fourth 

nf 

July 

Oratory 


Parade 


Ice  Cream 


But  what  makes  an  idea  strong?  As  teachers  we  want  to 
know  how  to  get  "seven  times  eight"  strongly  associated 
with  "fifty-six,"  "Captain  John  Smith"  with  "Virginia," 
"obedience"  with  "parents  and  teachers." 

Four  further  laws  of  association  have  been  found,  which 
explain  why  certain  ideas  crowd  out  their  associates.  These 
may  be  named  the  laws  of : 

1.  Frequency 

2.  Recency 

3.  Intensity 

4.  Brain-set 

i.  Let  me  put  before  you  the  word  "bread"  and  you  need 
not  tell  me  what  it  calls  to  mind.  Bread  and  butter  have 
been  so  frequently  in  mind  together,  both  as  objects  and  as 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 6 


82  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

words,  that  most  of  us  cannot  escape  the  association.  A 
path  is  worn  and  kept  open  by  frequent  travel,  a  sluice  by 
frequent  coursing  of  the  water,  a  brain  path  by  the  frequent 
coursing  of  an  idea.  Repetitio  mater  studiorum,  "  Repeti- 
tion is  the  mother  of  learning,"  was  the  motto  of  the  old 
school. 

2.  Sluices  and  paths,  including  brain  paths,  tend  to  close 
with  time.    If  a  path  has  been  opened  or  re-opened  recently, 
the  ideas  that  travel  it  have  the  advantage  of  a  free  high- 
way.   We  are  all  a  little  like  putty,  holding  the  imprint  of 
what  touched  us  last.     The  final  speaker  in  the  debate, 
all  else  being  equal,  has  the  best  chance  to  win  the  judges. 
Your  pupils  will  contrive  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  lesson  at 
the  last  possible  moment  before  reciting,  especially  if  they 
have  not  taken  advantage  of  the  law  of  frequency  of  repe- 
tition. 

3.  The  path  that  has  been  fairly  plowed  out  by  intense 
scraping,  or  the  waterway  worn  by  even  the  single  passage 
of  a  torrent  resulting  from  cloud-burst,  may  be  deepest  and 
most  lasting.     "I'll  make  you  remember  this," — so  we 
threaten  the  infliction  of  something  intense.     When  the 
word  "fire"  is  presented,  a  few  persons  are  always  found  who 
think  first  of  some  dangerous  experience  with  fire  which 
occurred,  it  may  be,  years  ago. 

This  law  cannot  be  used  constantly  in  teaching,  but  only 
in  driving  home  rare  and  important  truths.  He  who  shouts 
all  the  while  has  no  way  left  of  emphasizing  anything. 

4.  Why  are  water  channels  so  winding?    And  why  do  our 
associations  take  such  curious  twists?    Much  depends  on 
the  "lay  of  the  land."    Streams  of  water  and  streams  of 
association  follow  the  easiest  way.    Speak  the  word  "note" 
in  a  company,  and  the  business  man  thinks  of  legal  paper, 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  83 

the  lover  of  a  billet-doux,  the  musician  of  his  scores.  Each 
thus  reveals  the  set  of  his  brain,  his  dominant  interest,  his 
habitual  center  of  attention. 

Brain-set  may  be  for  the  moment  only.  If  I  have  been 
reading  of  ghosts,  every  white  streak,  rustle,  or  hoot  gives 
me  a  thrill.  Or  such  a  set  may  be  of  longer  lasting.  It  is  the 
banker's  occupation,  year  in,  year  out,  that  makes  him 
associate  everything  with  money.  One's  whole  nature 
may  be  set  by  heredity,  and  for  life,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
"natural-born"  artist,  musician,  or  what  not.  The  boy, 
Benjamin  West,  shears  the  cat's  tail  to  make  a  paint- 


brush.   Another  person  cannot  tell  the  colors  apart,  but 
lives  and  thrives  on  mathematics.* 

Apperception. — Apperception  is  personal  view,  due  to 
brain-set.    For  example,  look  at  the  figure  above  and  tell 


*  Considered  in  this  large  sense,  our  fourth  sub-law  of  association 
no  longer  stands  on  the  same  level  with  the  others;  it  underlies  them. 
For  what  has  the  young  man,  a  born  follower  of  some  vocation  such 


84  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

what  you  think  it  represents.  After  you  have  decided, 
read  the  footnote.* 

Apperception  is  "taking  in"  anything,  as  a  perception 
or  an  idea.  But  what  happens  when  anything  is  taken  in 
by  the  mind?  The  newcomer  is  not  left  standing  alone  and 
neglected.  Old  images  hasten  to  welcome  it,  join  hands 
with  it,  make  it  feel  at  home  if  possible.!  So  when  you  be- 
gan the  study  of  algebra,  you  probably  apperceived  it  as  a 
kind  of  arithmetic  with  letters  for  figures.  Another  sub- 
ject, perhaps  the  beginning  of  Latin  or  geometry,  may  have 
seemed  so  entirely  new  and  strange  that  you  could  not  make 
it  mean  much  of  anything  for  a  time. 

Suppose  a  child  is  set  in  our  midst :  what  is  he  for  each  of 
us?  To  the  teacher  he  is  a  learner,  some  one  to  be  devel- 
oped into  manhood ;  to  the  manufacturer  he  may  be  a  cheap 
spindle  tender;  to  the  physician  he  is  a  possible  patient 
whose  health  must  be  guarded;  to  his  older  sister  he  is 
perhaps  a  blundering  nuisance  who  does  not  understand  her 
love  affairs;  to  one  boy  he  is  a  chum;  to  another,  an  enemy 
to  be  feared;  to  his  mother,  joy  unspeakable.  So  the  child 

as  electrical  engineering,  thought  of  most  frequently,  recently,  in- 
tensely? His  darling  subject,  in  terms  of  which  he  interprets  every- 
thing else.  Our  very  thoughts  are  determined  long  before  we  think 
them. 

*  By  previous  suggestion  to  the  observer,  this  figure  can  be  made  to 
"look  like"  a  picture  frame,  a  lamp  shade,  a  beveled  mirror,  a  pyra- 
mid with  the  top  cut  off,  a  tunnel,  or  any  one  of  a  hundred  other 
things. 

f  In  my  classroom  is  a  dummy  book,  bound  as  books  usually  are, 
and  stamped  on  the  back  "Beauty  Secrets."  It  is  interesting,  after  a 
class  has  perceived  a  few  real  books,  to  watch  the  faces  when  this 
dummy  is  opened,  revealing  nothing  but  a  mirror  and  a  comic  in- 
scription. Why  the  surprise?  Because,  as  usual,  they  had  images  of 
the  inside  of  the  "book,"  just  as  we  habitually  image  the  legs  of  a 
table  when  we  can  actually  see  its  top  only.  They  apperceived  the 
dummy  as  a  book,  but  found  they  must  apperceive  it  as  a  box. 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  85 

is  apperceived,  interpreted,  given  a  meaning,  according  to 
our  personal  brain-set.* 

Apperception  in  teaching. — If  anything  on  entering  the 
mind  stirs  up  no  images,  it  has  no  meaning.  Having  a 
meaning  signifies  just  that, — arousing  associations.  What 
does  "picnic"  or  " birthday"  mean  to  you?  Just  what  you 
associate  with  it.  If  our  teaching  is  to  mean  anything  to 
the  children,  it  must  arouse  many  images  in  their  minds. 
But  what  if  perception  has  never  brought  into  their  mental 
factories  the  necessary  kind  of  material? 

1.  First  of  all  then  the  pupil  must  have  an  "apperceptive 
basis,"  as  it  is  called,  for  what  he  is  to  learn,  something  to 
hitch  the  new  knowledge  fast  to.    We  always  interpret  the 
present  in  terms  of  our  past  experience, — what  else  is  there 
to  interpret  it  by?    It  is  hard  to  make  children  in  a  flat 
country  appreciate  mountains,  or  those  in  a  tropical  climate 
appreciate  snow,  or  to  make  city  children  appreciate  country 
life.    The  child  who  has  not  worked  with  objects  in  arith- 
metic can  put  no  meaning  into  the  figures  the  teacher 
makes  on  the  blackboard.    Our  first  question  should  always 
be,  "Have  my  pupils  had  practical  experience  enough  to 
enable  them  to  get  the  meaning  of  this  lesson?"    If  they 
have  not,  we  must  give  them  the  experience  before  we  give 
the  lesson.    This  is  one  of  the  values  of  excursions,  dram- 
atization, laboratory  work,  experiments,  practical  percep- 
tive experience  of  all  kinds. 

2.  We  must  get  down  to  the  level  of  the  child's  associa- 


*  A  poetic  example  of  apperception  is  found  in  Jest  'fore  Christmas, 
by  Eugene  Field: 

"Father  calls  me  William,  sister  calls  me  Will, 
Mother  calls  me  Willie,  but  the  fellers  call  me  Bill!" 

Each  name  suggests  the  mental  set  of  the  one  who  uses  it. 


86  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

tions,  to  whatever  apperceptive  basis  he  has.*  It  is  useless 
to  waste  time  telling  how  poorly  our  pupils  have  been 
taught.  We  should  find  out  how  much  (or  little)  they 
know,  and  begin  where  their  knowledge  leaves  off.  One 
who  was  sent  to  teach  a  semicivilized  people  the  use  of  the 
steam  engine,  found  that  all  attempts  to  teach  them  the 
science  of  the  engine,  the  expansive  power  of  steam,  and  the 
like,  were  lost  on  them.  He  at  length  succeeded  by  telling 
them  that  there  is  a  giant  in  the  engine  who  gets  mad  if 
you  heat  him,  and  who  will  blow  everybody  up  if  he  is  not 
given  all  he  wants  to  drink;  that  he  sticks  out  his  arm  (the 
piston  rod)  and  works  hard  for  you  if  you  treat  him  well. 

Granted  that  a  lesson  contains  anything  really  new,  it  is 
practically  impossible  for  the  teacher  to  make  it  too  simple. 
The  danger  is  usually  all  the  other  way.  Good  teachers  are 
good  explainers  (though  good  explainers  are  not  always  good 
teachers) ;  and  explaining  a  thing  is  just  putting  it  in  such 
terms  that  your  listener  can  apperceive  it  easily.  Use 
images  of  seed  and  soil  when  you  explain  to  the  farmer; 
pictures  from  the  shop  for  the  mechanic;  from  familiar 
affairs  of  child  life  for  the  children. f 

*  Try  this  on  your  apperception:  "Now  it  is  certain  that  the  fun- 
damental category  must  include  all  entities  and  all  processes  whatso- 
,  ever;  its  name  must  have  a  universal  denotation.  But  that  which 
denotes  everything  cannot  especially  denote  anything,  that  is,  can 
connote  nothing.  That  which  all  things  are  is  not  a  feature  or  prop- 
erty by  which  some  things  are  distinguished  from  any  others.  And 
furthermore,  the  universal  predicate  cannot  be  complex,  for  then  it 
would  have  parts  which  would  be  entities  and  of  which  the  universal 
predicate  could  not  be  predicated." 

All  this  is  simple  enough,  when  you  are  prepared  for  it.  But  if  you 
find  it  obscure,  you  know  just  how  your  pupils  will  feel  if  you  fail  to 
reach  down  to  their  apperceptive  level. 

1 1  once  asked  a  class  of  about  one  hundred  twenty-five  Normal 
School  students  how  many  believed  they  had  been  appreciably  in- 
fluenced by  the  morning  exercises  of  their  elementary-school  days. 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  87 

3.  Since  one's  brain-set,  his  fundamental  purpose,  is  a 
matter  of  inheritance,  we  should  not  seek  to  fashion  it  at 
will.  We  inherit  our  memory,  thought  power,  imagination, 
emotion,  as  we  do  our  height,  strength,  and  health  powers. 
Conscientious  teachers  often  feel  guilty  when  they  have 
exhausted  their  art  and  failed  to  arouse  interest  in  all 
pupils  for  all  subjects.  It  would  in  many  cases,  if  not  all, 
be  a  great  misfortune  if  the  well-meaning  teacher  succeeded 
in  her  effort  to  wrest  the  associative  processes  of  these 
budding  geniuses  from  the  paths  they  love.  We  cannot  tell 
ourselves  too  often  that  each  child  has  his  own  sacred  nature 
and  way  of  developing. 

Sensation  types.* — Suppose  we  all  tell  of  a  journey,  or  of  a 
walk  through  the  woods,  or  describe  what  we  should  regard 
as  an  ideal  day  of  living.  One  would  talk  much  of  things 
seen;  he  is  of  the  eye  or  visual  type,  "eye-minded"  as  wfe 
say.  Another  would  speak  mainly  of  things  heard;  he  is  of 
the  ear  or  auditory  type,  "  ear-minded."  A  third  would 
describe  in  terms  of  touches  and  movements;  he  is  of  the 
tactual  or  tactual-motor  type.  A  fourth  may  use  all  these 
kinds  of  material,  as  gathered  by  eye,  ear,  and  touch  (in- 
cluding movement);  he  is  of  the  mixed  type.  Smell  and 
taste  do  not  figure  prominently  enough  to  give  names  to 
types.  We  can  see  at  once  that  the  whole  matter  rests  on 
the  sense  organ  we  rely  on  most,  and  the  resulting  pre- 
dominance of  a  certain  kind  of  mental  material.  Most  of 

Only  four  raised  their  hands.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  our  morning 
exercises  often  consist  of  such  formal  and  mature  readings,  songs,  and 
hymns,  that  they  do  not  "strike  home"  with  the  children,  that  is  are 
not  effectively  apperceived. 

*  Various  other  terms  are  used  in  place  of  this,  such  as  "memory 
types,"  "types  of  mental  imagery,"  and  the  like.  But  "sensation 
type"  seems  to  be  the  simplest  and  most  appropriate  term  for  all  the 
facts. 


88  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

our  pupils  are  of  the  visual  type.  We  should  teach  them 
through  their  eyes  chiefly,  but  of  course  not  wholly. 

It  is  of  high  importance  that  we  find  out  the  sensation 
types  of  those  pupils  who  learn  with  difficulty.  The  pupil 
of  auditory  type,  who  tries  to  spell  our  English  words  by 
sound,  will  have  a  hard  time  of  it.  He  will  succeed  better  if 
he  can  call  up  images  of  the  way  they  look,  or  of  the  "feel" 
of  the  movements  of  tongue,  lips,  etc.,  necessary  in  naming 
their  letters,  or  of  the  movements  of  the  muscles  in  writing 
them.  We  can  find  out  our  pupils'  sensation  types,  at  least 
in  a  rough  way,  by  observing  their  language,  oral  and 
written,  and  summing  up  the  various  kinds  of  image  used. 
A  special  exercise  might  be  devised  for  this  purpose. 

The  best  minds,  I  believe,  readily  take  in  and  associate 
all  kinds  of  sensations;  they  are  of  the  " mixed "  type.  Very 
likely  we  should  so  shape  our  exercises  as  to  encourage  our 
pupils  to  do  the  same,  but  we  should  leave  them,  at  length, 
to  succeed  by  their  own  method. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Why  is  it  hard  to  " teach  an  old  dog  new  tricks"? 
Can  an  old  man  easily  learn  new  truths? 

2.  When  a  wee  girl  who  had  no  shovel  at  home  went 
calling,  she  spoke  of  the  neighbor's  fire  shovel  as  a  "big 
black  spoon."     Explain. 

3.  Apperception  has  been  called  "the  interpretation  of 
the  new  in  terms  of  the  old."    Show  that  this  is  true,  and 
give  an  original  illustration. 

4.  Which  sense  organ  do  you  rely  on  most  in  perceiving? 
WThich  kind  of  image  do  you  employ  chiefly  in  remembering? 

5.  Why  do  the  paradigms  of  Latin  require  so  many  more 
repetitions  than  the  theorems  of  geometry?    What  apper- 
ceptive  basis  does  the  student  usually  have  for  each? 


COMBINING  MENTAL  MATERIAL  89 

6.  Recall  a  few  events  which  you  feel  you  can  "  never 
forget " .   What  has  given  them  such  a  strong  associative  set- 
ting? 

7.  In  England,  boys  were  at  one  period  taken  to  impor- 
tant boundary  marks  and  there  thoroughly  whipped,  that 
they  might  thereafter  bear  witness  as  to  the  landmark. 
Was  this  good  psychological  practice?    Why? 

8.  Why  do  we  find  in  our  language  such  expressions  as 
"bread  and  butter,"  "thunder  and  lightning,"  "peaches, 
and  cream?"    Explain,  from  the  standpoint  of  association. 

9.  "More  than  two  thirds  of  all  objects  drawn  by  young 
children  are  decidedly  in  action,"  reports  G.  Stanley  Hall. 
What  does  the  brain-set  or  dominant  interest  of  the  children 
have  to  do  with  this? 

10.  Explain  why  scenes  on  the  stage  seem  so  real  to  us. 
Do  we  "see"  any  more  than  is  actually  there? 

11.  Explain  in  terms  of  apperception,  why  the  definition 
of  a  subject  such  as  arithmetic  should  come  at  the  end  of  the 
textbook,  rather  than  at  the  beginning. 

12.  Why  is  a  man  willing  to  be  called  a  "lucky  dog" 
when  he  is  unwilling  to  be  called  a  "cur?"    What  do  we 
commonly  associate  with  each? 

13.  What  is  the  difficulty,  from  the  standpoint  of  asso- 
ciation, when  we  say  that  something  (such  as  a  strange 
word)  has  no  meaning  for  us?    What  does  it  mean  to  have 
a  meaning? 

14.  There  are  said  to  be  images  or  ideas  which  appear  in 
consciousness,  not  because  of  their  association  with  any- 
thing else,  but  mysteriously  and  independently.    Does  your 
experience  lead  you  to  accept  the  statement?    If  so,  can  you 
suggest  an  explanation  in  terms  of  brain  activity? 

REFERENCES 

Betts,  George  Herbert,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education,  Ch.  VII. 
Galton,  Francis,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty;  articles  on 


go  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

"Mental  Imagery,"  "Number  Forms,"  "Associations,"  "An- 
techamber of  Consciousness." 

James,  William,  Talks  to  Teachers,  Ch.  IV. 

Read,  Melbourne  Stuart,  An  Introductory  Psychology,  Ch.  IX. 

Rooper,  T.  G.,  A  Pot  of  Green  Feathers. 

Schaeffer,  Nathan  C.,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think, 
Ch.  XII. 


CHAPTER  IX 

REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING 

"Every  young  man  who  thinks  he  must  indulge  in  a  little  sowing  of 
wild  oats  before  he  settles  down  to  a  correct  life,  and  so  deals  hi  un- 
worthy thoughts  and  deeds,  is  putting  a  mortgage  on  his  future;  for 
he  will  find  the  inexorable  machinery  of  his  nervous  system  grinding 
the  hated  images  of  such  things  back  into  his  mind,  as  surely  as  the 
mill  returns  to  the  sack  of  the  miller  what  he  feeds  into  the  hopper. 
He  may  refuse  to  harbor  these  thoughts,  but  he  can  no  more  hinder 
their  seeking  admission  to  his  mind  than  he  can  prevent  the  tramp 
from  knocking  at  his  door.  He  may  drive  such  images  from  his  mind 
the  moment  they  are  discovered,  and  indeed  is  guilty  if  he  does  not; 
but  not  taking  offense  at  this  rebuff,  the  unwelcome  thought  again 
seeks  admission."* 

EXERCISES. — What  did  you  do  last  Saturday?  Write 
a  brief  description  of  the  process  by  which  you  recall  the 
day's  doings.  Aside  from  any  evidence  that  may  exist  in 
the  external  world,  such  as  the  letters  you  wrote  last  Satur- 
day, etc.,  how  do  you  know  that  you  remember  the  day 
truthfully? 

Describe  an  ideal  holiday.  How  does  this  process  differ 
from  remembering? 

At  this  point,  it  will  help  us  to  look  again  at  our  "outline 
of  the  making  of  ideas." 

f  Seeing 

i.  Collecting  material :  Perception      \  Hearing 
[  Etc. 

*  George  Herbert  Betts,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education.  Used  by  per- 
mission of  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  publishers. 


92  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Remembering 


2.  Combining  material:  Association 


Imagining 


Thinking 

Having  gathered  our  mental  materials  as  perceptions,  we 
work  them  up,  associate  them,  into  ideas.  There  are  three 
forms  of  association:  memory,  imagination,  and  thought. 
In  this  chapter  we  shall  study  the  first  two. 

The  study  of  these  forms  of  association  is  an  important 
one,  for  the  great  difference  between  the  wise  and  the  other- 
wise, or  even  between  man  and  lower  animals,  lies  not  in  the 
senses,  not  in  the  ability  to  take  in  mental  material,  but 
in  the  power  to  use  it,  to  make  something  in  our  mental 
factory  turn  out  such  valuable  and  artistic  products  as  true 
thoughts,  useful  inventions,  pleasing  poems. 

What  is  memory? — If  we  attempt  to  draw  some  object  of 
familiar  experience,  we  shall  find  it  is  not  the  lack  of  manual 
skill  alone  that  prevents  us  from  filling  in  all  the  details. 
Many  of  them  have  vanished  from  mind.  Also,  we  are 
likely  to  include  much  that  is  not  really  "there."  Mark 
Twain  humorously  said  that  when  he  was  young  he  could 
remember  anything,  whether  it  ever  happened  or  not;  but 
as  he  was  getting  old,  he  should  soon  remember  that  only 
which  never  happened.  No  doubt  we  have  all  victimized 
ourselves  and  fallen  into  mild  or  deep  disgrace  by  "  re- 
membering" what  never  happened,  as  well  as  by  failing  to 
include  in  our  mental  sketchbook  some  very  important 
items. 

Memory,  then,  does  not  photograph  the  past;  it  is  not  a 
duplicate,  letter-press  copy.  The  past  as  such  is  "lost  and 
gone."  Memory  is  a  reconstruction  of  the  past,  plus  a 
recognition  of  the  past  as  past.  The  essential  feature  of 
such  recognition  is  the  feeling  of  familiarity.  In  the  figure, 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING  93 

let  F  be  some  experience  of  yesterday.    F'  is  our  memory  of 
that  experience,  less  vivid,  but  with  a  halo  of  familiarity. 


Y  Y' 

I  have,  let  us  say,  a  life-size  portrait  of  every  member  of 
my  class.  When  the  class  has  been  graduated,  it  represents 
the  lost  and  gone;  it  will  never  again  assemble  as  before. 
I  place  each  student's  likeness — each  standing  for  a  mental 
image — in  the  seat  he  once  occupied,  and  the  whole  feels 
familiar.  This  typifies  my  memory  of  the  class.  Let  me 
now  change  the  order,  standing  some  of  the  portraits  on 
their  heads  in  corners  and  suspending  others  from  the  ceil- 
ing, and  the  whole  feels  strange, — I  never  saw  my  students 
in  such  positions.  This  typifies  an  act  of  imagination.  It  is 
only  by  the  accompanying  feeling  that  we  can  tell  whether 
we  are  remembering  or  imagining.  Memory  is  that  form  of 
association  which  is  accompanied  by  a  feeling  of  familiarity. 

Not  memory,  but  memories. — To  say  that  one  has  a  good 
memory  does  not  mean  much  unless  we  tell  what  it  is  good 
for.  As  no  man  can  do  all  things  well,  so  no  memory  can 
retain  all  things  well.  Most  of  us  can  remember  easily 
along  the  lines  of  our  greatest  interests,  but  in  other  direc- 
tions with  difficulty,  or  not  at  all.  The  pupil  who  holds 
readily  every  new  tune  he  hears,  may  find  that  his  arith- 
metic or  history  evaporates  out  of  his  mind  during  a  night. 


94  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

If  we  are  sensible,  we  shall  not  abuse  nature  for  giving  us 
poor  memories  because  we  cannot  remember  everything, 
but  push  forward  fastest  where  our  memories  work  best. 
As  Betts  says,  "The  best  memory  is  the  one  which  best  serves 
its  possessor." 

This  fact  of  special  memories  for  special  branches  comes 
out  in  experiments  on  memory  and  attempts  to  train  the 
memory.  Committing  poetry  will  help  us  little,  if  at  all,  in 
remembering  the  facts  of  history  or  mathematics.  We 
improve  our  memories  along  the  direct  line  of  our  practice, 
but  little  along  side  lines.  In  the  light  of  this,  we  can  see  the 
doubtful  value  of  any  general  scheme  of  "memory  train- 
ing," or  of  studies  whose  chief  virtue  is  "to  improve  the 
memory,"  as  compared  with  a  pursuit  designed  to  improve 
a  memory,  and  that  memory  the  one  the  individual  wants 
to  use  in  his  vocation.  The  hoarding  of  memory  gems  may 
easily  be  overdone;  sometimes  a  child  does  not  want  to  be 
such  a  mental  jeweler — or  miser.  Sympathize  with  him  and 
spare  him. 

Frequency,  recency,  intensity,  brain-set. — These  general 
laws  of  association  hold  true  of  memory,  since  memory  is 
one  kind  of  association.  But  as  we  have  dealt  with  them 
elsewhere  (Chapter  VIII),  we  shall  here  only  briefly  indicate 
their  application. 

The  law  of  frequency  demands  much  repetitive  drill. 
The  stair  of  learning  has  many  monotonous  steps,  and  there 
is  no  elevator.  One  who  seeks  the  highest  success  in  any  line 
of  endeavor  should  spend  the  odd  moments  reviving  old 
items  of  knowledge  and  forming  associations,  fixing  in  mind 
prices,  dates,  faces,  election  returns,  laws,  formulas  for 
action,  whatever  his  vocation  requires  him  to  master. 

The  law  of  recency  may  easily  be  abused.    The  public 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING  95 

speaker  soon  learns  better  than  to  keep  up  a  mental  re- 
hearsal of  his  speech  to  the  moment  of  delivery;  and  the 
best  pupil  is  one  who  can  dispense  with  the  last  peep  before 
the  recitation  begins.  It  is  well  to  possess  such  a  snapshot, 
emergency  memory,  but  it  is  also  wise  not  to  use  it  except 
in  emergencies. 

Intensity  demands  concentration,  the  strict  focusing  of 
the  mind  on  the  matter  in  hand.  Attention  has  wisely  been 
called  the  " mother  of  memory."  Concentration  is  the 
student's  master  art.  But  one  cannot  concentrate  on  every 
sort  of  matter  indifferently.  In  the  long  run  we  can  center 
our  energies  on  that  only  which  appeals  to  our  native,  in- 
herited powers. 

The  most  favorable  mental  set  involves  a  lively  interest 
in  the  work,  and  the  maintenance  of  a  mood  of  calm  con- 
fidence. Faith  in  one's  ability  and  high  resolve  on  mastery 
often  mean  the  whole  difference  between  success  and 
failure.  What  is  in  line  with  one's  largest  natural  interest 
is  most  easily  mastered,  since  it  most  readily  commands 
entire  attention  and  forms  many  strong  associations. 

The  art  of  remembering. — The  following  precepts  are 
fundamental. 

i.  See  that  the  physical  conditions  are  as  favorable  as 
possible.  It  is  commonly  supposed,  since  James  made  the 
assertion,  that  one's  brute  force  of  memory,  his  native  brain 
plasticity  and  power  of  retentiveness  cannot  be  increased. 
Certainly,  however,  it  can  be  diminished.  Excesses,  or 
bad  habits  of  eating,  sleeping,  breathing,  or  exercising  may 
ruin  the  best  memory.  The  student  who  sits  up  all  night 
to  cram  before  examination  is  likely  to  find,  at  the  critical 
moment,  that  the  wires  are  down,  so  that  he  cannot  even 
call  up  the  knowledge  he  has.  The  only  reason  why  some 


g6  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

children  appear  weak-minded  is  because  they  are  working 
with  fatigued  or  impoverished  brains.  Here  again  the 
student  must  see  that  real  wisdom  means  the  care  of  body 
first.  One  should  be  fresh,  not  only  when  trying  to  remem- 
ber, but  when  committing  to  memory. 

2.  Commit  to  the  understanding  before  committing  to 
memory.  We  are  not  practicing  mental  economy,  not  sav- 
ing time  but  losing  it,  when  we  dash  nervously  ahead  in  the 
hope  of  mastering  by  one  quick  effort  of  memory,  what  we 
are  not  willing  to  take  the  time  to  understand.  Experiment 
shows  that  this  precept,  "Understand  a  thing  before  you 
memorize  it,"  is  the  right  rule  for  children  also.  They  are 
often  abused  by  the  neglect  of  it.* 

Too  often,  in  giving  out  poem  work  or  some  similar  task, 
we  merely  throw  it  at  our  pupils,  so  to  speak,  with  the 
direction  to  " learn  it."  Study  of  the  selection,  if  it  comes 
at  all,  comes  afterward.  This  is  the  most  slipshod,  easy  way 
for  the  teacher,  and  the  hardest  for  the  pupils.  We  may 
fall  into  this  practice  because  of  our  own  ignorance  of  the 
work,  or  because  we  over-estimate  the  attainments  of  our 
pupils.  We  must  charge  our  minds  with  facts  until  we  can 
make  every  word  of  the  selection  alive  with  associations. 
It  should  be  well  read,  perhaps  several  times,  by  the  teacher 
for  her  pupils.  When  the  pupils  themselves  have  read  and 

*"Much  the  greater  part  of  the  work  of  memorizing  ...  is 
effected  by  explaining  carefully  to  the  pupils  the  matter  to  be  learned 
and  by  cultivating  habits  of  intelligent  analysis  and  synthesis.  Ef- 
ficiency in  memory  work  depends  mostly  upon  the  systematic  appre- 
hension and  the  rational  comprehension  of  the  significance  of  the 
matter.  It  is  this  aspect  of  memory  which  is  capable  of  most  develop- 
ment, and  the  teacher's  efforts  in  this  direction  are  bound  to  produce 
beneficial  results.  More  time  should  be  spent,  especially  in  the  lower 
classes,  in  the  presentation  of  the  matter,  and  less  in  mechanical  repeti- 
tion." Robert  R.  Rusk,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  p.  87. 
Used  by  permission  of  Longmans,  Green  and  Company,  publishers. 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING  97 

re-read  it,  it  will  almost  have  committed  itself  to  memory.* 
Of  course  a  child  may  practice  an  art  successfully  without 
knowing  the  science,  may  reduce  to  habit  what  he  cannot 
fully  explain,  as  the  average  child  does  and  should  do  when 
he  first  works  with  our  decimal  system  of  numbers.  But 
speaking  generally,  if  a  child  is  unable  to  understand  a 
given  selection,  then  the  time  has  not  come  for  him  to 
memorize  it. 

3.  Since  memory  is  based  on  habit,  put  the  mind  through 
the  same  kind  of  process  in  learning  that  it  is  supposed  to 
follow  in  reproducing.  We  all  know  the  alphabet,  but  none 
of  us  can  say  it  backwards  rapidly,  unless  he  has  learned  it 
that  way.  The  forgetful  husband,  before  he  leaves  home, 
should  vividly  picture  himself  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
shop  where  he  is  to  buy  his  wife's  goods;  then,  when  he  ap- 
proaches the  spot,  the  sight  of  the  surroundings  will  suggest 
the  purchase.  This  process,  strengthened  by  repetition,  will 
prove  almost  infallible.  The  good  elocutionist  goes  laugh- 
ing and  crying  through  all  the  acts  of  her  selection  while 
committing  it, — that  is  committing  it.  If  the  children  fol- 
lowed a  similar  process  at  the  knee  of  mother  or  teacher,  we 
should  hear  fewer  singsong  recitations  in  public  places. 
"The  child  knows  better,  for  I  have  told  him  better,"  is  the 
excuse  of  many  a  teacher  or  parent  who  thus  discloses  his 
ignorance  of  psychological  practice.  The  only  acceptable 
plea  is,  "The  child  knows  better,  for  in  addition  to  good 

*  There  is  an  old  story  of  a  little  girl  who  wrote  from  memory: 
"My  country  tisuf  thee, 

Sweet  land  of  libeat  tea,"  etc. 

She  explained  that  "tisuf"  was  just  put  in  to  fill  out  the  line,  and  that 
"libeat"  was  a  brand  of  tea! 

A  certain  boy  apperceived  "earthquake"  as  "earth  cake,"  a  "great 
big  cake  of  a  very  nice  kind." 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 7 


98  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

precepts  I  put  him  through  the  correct  form  many  times, 
before  he  was  allowed  to  come  in  contact  with  the  incorrect 
form  at  all." 

4.  Keep  a  mental  filing  system.  As  fast  as  experience 
comes,  select  what  seems  important  and  associate  it  to  your 
chief  purpose  according  to  the  demands  of  future  use.  The 
teacher  with  a  lesson  to  prepare,  the  pupil  with  a  composi- 
tion to  write  should  seize  upon  the  material  found  in  con- 
versation or  novel  or  newspaper,  imagine  himself  using  it 
at  the  proper  moment,  and  associate  it  with  other  related 
matters  in  his  mind.* 

If  we  fail  to  cultivate  this  selective  sort  of  memory, 
" logical  memory"  as  it  is  often  called,  our  minds  become 
like  the  contents  of  the  school  boy's  pocket,  a  tangle  which 
makes  it  necessary  to  pull  out  everything  in  order  to  get  the 
one  thing  desired.  This  is  the  very  trouble  with  those  fussy 
people  who  weary  us  with  multitudinous  particulars:  they 
fail  to  come  to  the  point  because  there  is  no  point — for 
them.  We  can  help  our  pupils  in  overcoming  this  trouble 
by  the  way  we  question  them. 

Minor  memory  rules. — i.  Commit  by  complete  repeti- 
tions. Experiment  shows  this  to  be  faster  than  committing 
by  stanzas  or  paragraphs  or  sentences.  The  method  of 
complete  repetitions  may  not  be  the  best  way  to  attack  an 


*  For  instance,  just  now  my  own  thoughts  run  this  way:  "Read  this 
morning  a  statement  by  a  blind  man  who  says  the  blind  cannot  sense 
colors  through  finger  tips.  My  students  in  psychology  sometimes 
assert  the  contrary.  Next  time  this  point  comes  up  I  shall  remember 
this  additional  evidence  for  my  side."  So  I  put  this  note  in  my  mental 
filing  system,  but  forget  a  hundred  other  facts  read  during  the  same 
hour.  I  may  put  it  in  a  paper  filing  system,  too;  for  the  filing  cabinet 
of  the  office  is  only  so  much  brain  extension.  The  only  reason  why  we 
have  filing  systems  other  than  our  brains  is  because  our  brains  cannot 
stand  the  strain  of  our  voluminous  business. 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING  99 

extremely  long  selection,  but  it  is  best  for  passages  of  ordi- 
nary length. 

While  learning,  recall  as  much  as  possible  without  refer- 
ence to  the  book.  When  the  selection  is  fairly  well  learned, 
you  will  find  certain  difficult  points  where  you  stick.  Stop 
the  complete  repetitions  and  practice  on  these  sticking  points 
until  they  are  mastered.  Then  resume  complete  repetitions. 

2.  Divide  your  time  wisely.     Choose  frequent,   short 
study  periods,  rather  than  infrequent,  prolonged  concentra- 
tion.   Four  forty-five  minute  periods  a  week  are  better  than 
two  ninety-minute  periods.     Granted  one  hour  a  day  to 
spend  on  a  subject,  we  should  divide  it  into  two  thirty- 
minute  periods,  or  even  three  twenty-minute  periods.    How 
far  this  division  of  time  can  be  carried  profitably  has  not 
been  discovered. 

3.  Prolong  drill  beyond  the  point  of  first  mastery.    To 
cease  effort  as  soon  as  a  selection  can  be  said  over,  is  to  fail 
to  recall  it  under  critical  circumstances.     Memory  fades 
rapidly  for  a  brief  period  closely  following  the  learning 
process,  after  that  much  more  slowly. 

4.  Watch  yourself  as  you  work,  and  devise  your  own 
personal  tricks  of  memorizing  and  recalling.    Some  people 
can  remember  best  by  using  one  sense  only  while  memoriz- 
ing, as  the  eye;  others  prefer  to  read  aloud,  so  as  to  use  both 
eye  and  ear,  etc.    Again,  probably  each  has  his  own  best 
rate  of  committing  to  memory.    Evening  study  for  some 
students  seems  to  be  preferable  to  morning  work.    Rhythm, 
where  it  can  be  introduced,  aids  in  recalling. 

The  memory  of  the  child. — It  is  commonly  supposed 
that  in  childhood  the  power  to  memorize  is  better  than  at 
any  time  thereafter,  and  that  therefore  the  child  may  rightly 
be  required  to  lumber  up  his  mind  with  vast  bulks  of  mate- 


loo  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

rial  to  be  used  in  later  years.  The  supposition  is  false  and 
the  resulting  pedagogy  vicious.  Experiment  shows  not 
only  that  the  power  to  memorize  improves  from  childhood 
well  into  adult  life,  but  also  that  whatever  has  no  meaning 
for  an  individual  is  learned  at  an  extravagant  cost  of  time 
and  nerve  energy.  Some  people  insist  on  the  necessity  of 
drilling  in  formulas  such  as  are  used  throughout  life;  but  if 
such  formulas  really  have  any  lifelong  necessity  about  them, 
they  are  likely  to  drill  themselves  in.  Personally,  I  would 
not  have  a  child  learn  anything,  unless  he  could  see  for  him- 
self that  it  meant  something  and  was  good  for  something.* 

Learning. — Memory  is  closely  involved  with  habit  and 
with  acts  of  skill.  Consequently  further  discussion  of  mem- 
ory will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  "The  Learning  Process. " 

The  nature  of  imagination. — Imagination  is  just  another 
kind  of  association.  As  memory  is  that  form  of  association 
which  is  accompanied  by  the  feeling  of  familiarity p,  so  imagi- 
nation is  that  form  of  association  which  is  marked  by  the 
feeling  of  strangeness,  or  unfamiliarity.  I  can  imagine 

*  In  addition  to  what  has  been  stated,  the  following  important 
facts  concerning  the  memory  of  the  child  have  been  fairly  well  estab- 
lished :  that  there  are  many  special  memories  which  develop  at  various 
rates,  such  as  memories  for  objects,  sounds,  words,  abstract  ideas, 
etc.;  that  these  special  memories  are  likely  to  be  highly  efficient  at 
age  10-12,  less  so  at  age  14-15;  that  boys  can  deal  with  abstract  ideas 
more  successfully  than  girls;  that  the  memory  of  girls  is  superior  to 
that  of  boys  at  age  1 1-14,  but  that  the  boy  thereafter  catches  up  in  his 
development;  that  the  memory  for  numbers  and  that  for  abstract 
ideas  develop  together,  and  both  rather  late;  that  lung  capacity  and 
muscular  power  are  correlated  with  good  memory;  that  the  ability  to 
memorize  increases  up  to  age  22-25,  at  least;  that  the  most  rapid 
learners  show  the  highest  degree  of  retentiveness;  that  the  power  to 
memorize  can  be  improved  by  practice;  that  school  training  does  not 
affect  the  power  of  memory  to  any  considerable  extent;  that  there  is 
some  connection  between  memory  and  general  intelligence. 

Of  course,  these  results  are  not  applicable  to  any  single  individual, 
but  are  suggestive  with  regard  to  general  practice. 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING , , ,  r    ,       ,191 

myself  President  of  the  United  States,  but  such  a  situation 
seems  strange.  I  cannot  conjure  up  the  feeling  of  familiar- 
ity that  would  assure  me  I  had  ever  held  the  office. 

Laws  and  limitations  of  imagination. — Once  more,  the 
laws  of  combination  are  the  same,  frequency,  recency, 
intensity,  and  brain-set.  What  distinguishes  imagination 
from  memory  is  the  kind  of  feeling  that  goes  with  each. 
If  this  feeling  vanishes,  we  cannot  tell  whether  our  mental 
concoction  is  "really  so,"  or  whether  we  dreamed  it.  Chil- 
dren are  often  confused  in  this  way  and  so  utter  "lies"  with- 
out limit.  When  adults  indulge  in  this  sort  of  "  lying," 
become  adept  at  it,  we  call  them  poets,  novelists,  drama- 
tists. 

It  is  often  asked  whether  we  can  imagine  anything  new. 
This  is  an  ambiguous  question:  (i)  Can  we  create  new 
images  at  will?  No ;  we  can  exaggerate  or  dwarf  or  intensify 
or  tone  down  the  old  ones,  but  the  only  way  to  get  new 
images  is  through  the  use  of  the  sense  organs,  by  getting 
new  impressions.  Let  one  imagine  what  he  will,  a  castle, 
a  fairy,  heaven;  he  will  find  his  picture  composed  of  the 
same  old  images,  for  we  have  but  one  stock  of  them,  saved 
from  the  experiences  of  our  past.  (2)  Can  we  combine  these 
old  images  into  new  forms?  Yes;  and  here  we  enjoy  the 
dignity  of  something  like  creative  power,  for  we  can  origi- 
nate patterns,  combinations  of  images  which  probably 
never  have  existed  before  since  time  began. 

The  imagination,  then,  can  create  no  new  material,  nor 
has  it  any  new  laws  for  combining  old  material.  Its  whole 
business  is  the  recombination  of  old  images  into  new  patterns. 

Culture  of  the  imagination. — As  we  have  memories  rather 
than  a  memory,  so  we  have  imaginations  rather  than  an 
imagination.  My  imagination  for  history  may  be  poor 


102  THE  SCIENCE  AN£>  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

indeed,  while  my  imagination  for  scientific  matters  may  be 
more  active,  or  my  poetic  imagination  may  blossom  like 
the  rose.  The  chief  use  to  which  anyone  can  put  his  imagi- 
nation is  a  vocational  use.  It  should  aid  him  chiefly  in  the 
accomplishment  of  his  life  purpose,  mathematical,  scien- 
tific, literary,  or  what  not. 

Here,  as  in  the  case  of  memory,  the  best  physical  condi- 
tion is  essential.  The  following  rules  may  also  be  safely 
recommended:  (i)  Determine  for  what  purpose  the  imagi- 
nation is  to  be  used.  (2)  Collect  an  abundance  of  material 
of  the  kind  most  needed.  If  one  wishes  to  write  poetry, 
he  should  read  a  great  deal  of  the  kind  of  poetry  he  expects 
to  produce.  The  inventor  may  well  study  the  patent  office 
reports.  (3)  Practice  first  by  following  the  efforts  of  others, 
then  independently.  Imitative  exercises  will  open  the  way 
for  originality  and  beget  creative  activity. 

The  imagination  of  the  child. — We  have  already  spoken 
of  children's  lies.  These  form  one  example  of  the  luxurious 
exuberance  of  youthful  imagination.  Here  is  the  great 
loosening  up  process  of  the  child's  mind.  He  knocks  apart 
the  old  prosaic  blocks  of  everyday  experience,  and  sets  up 
new  and  marvelous  combinations  with  delightful  reckless- 
ness. He  is  using  the  very  same  power  that  enables  the 
scientist  to  make  his  most  startling  hypotheses.  It  is  largely 
this  that  creates  in  the  child  his  boundless  appetite  for 
stories,  and  sets  the  youth  ransacking  the  library  for  fiction; 
but  merely  to  follow  others  forever  in  their  psychic  rambles 
is  to  be  a  mental  slave. 

Experiment  indicates  that  the  following  statements 
probably  hold  true  of  the  child's  imagination:  that  the 
younger  children  have  the  more  vivid,  concrete  images, 
chiefly  individual,  and  mostly  visual ;  that  each  has  his  own 


REMEMBERING  AND  IMAGINING  103 

rate  of  association,  which  indicates  nothing  as  to  his  intel- 
ligence; that  it  is  unwise,  generally,  to  urge  children  to  "be 
quick,"  when  they  have  a  problem  to  imagine  out;  that 
most  of  the  child's  imagery  results  from  experiences  out  of 
school;  that  his  imagination  tends  to  be  vagrant  and  imita- 
tive, rather  than  systematic  and  creative. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1 .  Do  you  think  that  those  who  have  the  keenest  senses 
are  likely  to  be  the  best  associators?    Why? 

2.  Find  individuals  who  have  an  unusual  memory  in 
some  direction,  and  question  them  as  to  their  methods.    In 
how  many  such  instances  do  you  find  reliance  on  any  special 
' '  memory  sy  stem ' '  ? 

3.  Along  what  line  is  your  memory  best?    Does  this  line 
harmonize  with  your  chief  interests? 

4.  Note  in  yourself  the  effect  of  the  following  on  memory: 
digestion  (and  indigestion),  exercise  (or  lack  of  it),  wake- 
fulness,  impure  air,  excitement. 

5.  If  you  could  choose  never  to  forget  anything,  would 
you  do  so?    Why? 

6.  Which  kind  of  image  (visual,  auditory,  etc.)  do  you 
use  most  in  remembering?    What  does  this  mean? 

7.  Have  some  one  pronounce  for  you  the  following  syl- 
lables at  the  rate  of  about  one  per  second:  dap,  vac,  jaf,  lar, 
bex,  bup,  hif,  lis,  mor,  zuc,  puj,  dac.    Write  down  as  many 
as  you  can  from  memory.    Do  the  same  with  twelve  unre- 
lated, one-syllable  words,  and  also  with  twelve  one-syllable 
words  that  make  a  sentence.    Compare  the  results.    What 
do  they  mean? 

8.  Write  your  name  and  address  backward,  letter  by 
letter.     Why  is  the  process  so  slow,  although  you  remem- 
ber the  matter  so  well? 

9.  Next  tune  you  read  an  exceptionally  funny  joke, 


104  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

imagine  yourself  telling  it  to  some  one  else.     Does  it  re- 
appear in  consciousness  later,  at  the  right  time? 

10.  State  your  experience  with  cramming  (for  examina- 
tions, etc.). 

11.  If  a  child  found  difficulty  in  learning  his  history 
lesson,  how  could  you  help  him  by  means  of  your  knowledge 
of  memory  and  imagination? 

12.  Read  part  of  a  story,  then  stop  reading  and  finish 
it  in  your  own  way.    How  does  your  result  compare  with 
the  author's? 

13.  Imagine  and  describe  a  world  in  which  the  laws  and 
processes  we  are  familiar  with  are  reversed. 

14.  Try  to  invent  some  article  mentioned  in  a  patent 
office  report,  such  as  a  combined  knife  and  fork  for  a  one- 
armed  man ;  then  turn  to  the  report  and  see  how  your  idea 
compares  with  the  inventor's. 

REFERENCES 

Betts,  George  Herbert,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education,  Chs. 
VIII,  IX. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  Chs. 
VII,  VIII. 

Schaeffer,  Nathan  C.,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think,  Ch. 
XL 

Tracy  and  Stimpfl,  Psychology  of  Childhood,  Ch.  II,  Sec- 
tions II,  III,  IV. 


CHAPTER  X 
THINKING 

"The  world  within  should  be  made  to  correspond  with  the  world 
outside  of  us."  * 

EXERCISES. — Try  to  foretell,  not  merely  guess,  the  char- 
acter of  some  event  of  to-morrow,  say  the  weather.  Write 
an  account  of  the  process  by  which  you  reached  your  con- 
clusion. When  the  event  occurs  report  whether  you  were 
correct,  and  why. 

Review  Chapter  I. 

What  is  thinking? — We  have  seen  that  mental  materials 
can  be  put  together,  built  up,  associated  into  various  forms 
— memory,  imagination,  thought.  As  memory  is  the  form 
of  association  that  is  accompanied  by  the  feeling  of  familiar- 
ity, and  imagination  is  the  form  of  association  that  is  marked 
by  the  feeling  of  strangeness,  newness,  novelty,  so  thinking 
is  the  form  of  association  that  is  characterized  by  the  feel- 
ing of  reliability. 

When  I  summon  images  of  myself  as  a  college  student, 
the  feeling  of  familiarity  results;  I  am  remembering.  If 
the  images  are  those  of  myself  studying  in  Paris,  the  cold- 
ness of  unfamiliarity  sweeps  in — this  never  happened; 
I  am  imagining.  But  let  me  count  the  cost  of  studying  in 
Paris,  compare  it  with  my  income,  take  stock  of  all  I  know 
or  can  find  out  concerning  the  proposed  -course,  and  there 
comes  out  the  conclusion,  "I  can,  or  cannot,  be  a  student  in 

*  Nathan  C.  Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think. 

105 


106  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Paris. "  Whether  the  judgment  is  positive  or  negative,  it 
arouses  the  feeling  of  reliability;  it  shapes  my  course,  I  am 
ready  to  act  on  it,  to  go  or  to  stay.  Even  if  I  am  swamped 
in  the  process,  or  have  not  sufficient  facts  on  which  to  base 
a  conclusion,  there  is  still  a  feeling  of  reliability.  I  am  sure 
that  I  do  not  wish  to  act  without  a  further  clearing  up  of 
the  matter.  * 

What  is  the  thinker  trying  to  do?— When  the  Harvard- 
Yale  football  game  is  played  on  the  Yale  grounds  at  New 
Haven,  a  miniature  reproduction  of  the  game  is  flashed  on 
a  screen  before  an  audience  in  a  great  hall  in  Boston.  The 
individual  players  are  not  seen,  but  the  path  of  the  ball 
can  be  followed  in  its  course  up  and  down  the  field,  and  the 
scores  are  counted. 

The  actual  field  at  Yale  is  the  world  we  live  in;  the  pic- 
ture field  in  Boston  is  our  thought  world  with  its  images. 
In  so  far  as  we  succeed  in  arranging  our  images  to  corre- 
spond with  the  arrangement  of  things  and  events  in  the 
outside  world,  we  think  truthfully;  if  we  are  "mixed  up" 
and  disorderly  in  the  arrangement  of  our  images,  if  they 
do  not  represent  the  external  order,  we  are  thinking  errone- 
ously. 

The  thinker,  then,  is  trying  to  make  mental  pictures  that 


*  We  can  readily  see  how  closely  memory,  imagination,  and  thought 
are  interwoven.  While  we  treat  them  separately  for  the  sake  of 
clearness,  yet  all  memory,  if  put  to  the  test,  involves  thinking;  and 
thought  is  sometimes  denned  as  a  kind  of  imagination.  If  our  memory 
is  questioned,  we  at  once  proceed  to  think  out  the  case;  we  resort  to 
tests  which  are  regarded  as  reliable,  to  prove  it.  My  mother's  letter 
reminds  me  that  I  should  have  written  to  her  last  week — or  did  I? 
The  feeling  of  familiarity  does  not  quite  come.  But  I  must  have  done 
so,  for  here  she  mentions  what  I  wrote  of  my  recent  illness;  this  is 
reliable.  Then  I  recall  familiarly  my  words  and  the  circumstances  of 
the  writing. 


THINKING  107 

represent  truly  something  in  the  outside  world.  His  effort 
is  to  make  the  "world  within"  "correspond  with  the  world 
outside  of  us." 

An  example  of  ordinary  thinking. — I  learn  that  "shoot- 
ing stars,"  if  dug  up  soon  after  they  have  fallen  to  earth, 
are  sometimes  found  frozen  fast  in  the  ground.  Why  is 
this?  Perhaps  the  ground  was  frozen  where  they  fell? 
But  no;  this  happens  in  the  summer.  Could  the  shock  of 
striking  cause  cold  in  any  way?  Absurd;. such  collisions 
always  cause  heat.  Perhaps  the  meteor  is  made  of  ice?  But 
how  can  this  be,  when  they  are  seen  to  be  sizzling  hot  as 
they  fall?  I  have  heard  of  freezing  by  means  of  chemicals ! — 
that's  it.  The  "star"  must  carry  a  chemical  that  causes  it 
to  freeze  fast. 

What  are  the  steps  here?  (i)  A  problem  challenged  me. 
(2)  This  problem  started  a  chain  of  associations  such  as 
my  limited  stock  of  knowledge  could  furnish.  (3)  Some  of 
these  ideas  were  opposed  by  others,  "knocked  out,"  as  it 
were,  and  given  up  as  valueless.  (4)  One  suggestion  re- 
mains unopposed,  since  it  agrees  with  all  I  know  about  the 
matter.  This  idea  is  accepted  as  true. 

Here  we  have  pictured  the  usual  course  of  our  loose, 
everyday  thinking — what  we  may  almost  call  thoughtless 
thinking. 

Thorough  Thinking. — To  get  a  good  sample  of  thorough 
thinking,  let  us  review  the  steps  in  scientific  method  (see 
page  17).  The  steps  in  this  method  include: 

1.  Getting  a  definite  question  to  answer. 

2.  Collecting   instances,    observing   facts    that   seem 
likely  to  have  something  to  do  with  the  answer. 

*  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  the  mind  can  think  about  itself  as  well  as 
about  the  external  world,  but  the  principle  remains  the  same. 


lo8  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

3.  Putting  these  facts  into  a  class  or  classes,  and  find- 
ing what  can  be  said  of  them,  that  is,  generalizing. 

4.  Making  guesses,  hypotheses,  based  on  the  facts, 
suggesting  possible  explanations. 

5.  Testing  to  see  which  hypothesis,  if  any,  is  the  cor- 
rect one. 

6.  Using  the  new  truth  as  a  basis  for  further  reasoning. 
Science  is  said  to  be  systematized  common  sense.     Ev- 
idently,  I  need   to  be    more    systematic   in  my  quick, 
common-sense  solution  of  the  mystery  of  the  "shooting 
star."    In  the  first  place,  the  star  is  not  really  a  star  at  all. 
Besides  failing  to  get  a  definite  question  to  answer,  I  have 
failed  in  the  other  steps;  failed,  finally,  to  test  my  accepted 
conclusion.    I  should  either  have  examined  a  meteor  to  see 
if  it  bears  a  chemical  that  could  cause  freezing,  or  I  should 
have  held  my  judgment  in  suspense.    But  suspense  is  just 
what  most  of  us  cannot  bear. 

The  astronomer,  picking  his  way  carefully  through  many 
facts,  finds  that  such  meteors  come  from  a  region  of  almost 
unthinkable  cold;  that  even  when  heated  on  the  outside 
by  passing  so  rapidly  through  the  air  they  are  still  frigid 
within;  that  it  is  this  inner  cold  which  freezes  some  of  the 
larger  ones  to  the  ground  when  they  strike. 

Such  an  experience  should  be  enough  to  convince  me  that 
it  is  rather  rash  to  try  to  think  along  other  lines  than  my 
own.  My  conclusions  in  astronomy  are  worth  little.  My 
mind  is  too  hazy  on  such  matters. 

From  hazy  to  definite.— If  the  teacher's  mind  is  hazy, 
what  can  we  expect  from  the  pupil!  Every  child  begins 
with  foggy  ideas  of  big,  vague  bulks  of  things,  seen  dimly 
through  the  mist.  The  general  process  of  the  clearing  up 
of  his  mind  may  be  illustrated  by  the  procedure  of  an  artist 


THINKING  109 

in  charcoal  for  whom  I  once  sat.  She  began  by  darken- 
ing the  whole  picture  surface;  then,  with  deft  strokes 
of  her  eraser  and  the  artful  touch  of  cunning  fingers,  she 
caused  one  mass  after  another  to  stand  out  from  the  original 
chaos  and  take  shape,  until  finally  there  we  all  were,  trees, 
clumps  of  bushes,  the  old  roadway,  the  rock,  my  book,  and 
myself.  It  is  from  such  a  dark  and  formless  mass  that  the 
child,  with  much  strenuous  blundering  and  re-formation, 
gradually  works  out  clear  and  meaningful  mental  pictures. 

So,  when  he  attempts  to  form  his  idea  of  "man,"  it 
comes  about  that  long  before  he  tries  to  define  just  what 
the  word  shall  mean  for  him,  his  consciousness  is  printed 
with  all  sizes  and  shapes  and  colors  and  conditions  of  men, 
like  a  blackboard  which,  carelessly  erased  from  time  to 
time,  is  written  over  again  and  again,  the  most  frequently 
traced  characters  standing  out  most  plainly. 

The  forming  of  clear  ideas. — If  we  would  make  our  pupils 
clear  thinkers  we  must  develop  in  their  minds  clear  ideas, 
especially  ideas  that  take  in  whole  groups  or  classes  of 
things,  such  as  noun,  continent,  star,  animal,  man.  These 
class  ideas  are  called  concepts. 

Most  of  the  concepts  used  by  the  average  man  are  indefi- 
nite. They  grow  in  their  own  natural  and  half  lawless  way, 
and  are  not  clearly  outlined,  but  consist,  one  might  say, 
of  ragged-edged  splotches  of  meaning.  Anyone  who  will 
try  to  tell,  without  referring  to  the  dictionary,  exactly 
what  he  means  by  tree,  man,  burglary,  truth,  or  any  one  of 
thousands  of  other  words  he  is  recklessly  using  from  day  to 
day,  will  know  just  what  is  meant. 

How  does  a  child  get  his  general  idea  or  concept  of  man? 
At  an  early  age  he  hears  the  word  "man"  used  frequently 
in  the  presence  of  one  of  these  higher  animals,  and  if  his 


no          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

experience  is  very  limited  he  may  regard  "man"  as  the  in- 
dividual name  of  this  one  person.  If  so,  man  may  include 
as  a  part  of  its  necessary  meaning,  whiteness  and  whiskers. 
But  later  the  term  is  heard  applied  to  a  black  man  without 
whiskers,  etc.  The  situation  may  be  suggested  by  a  figure. 


At  length,  that  which  is  common  to  all  these  men  stamps 
itself  on  his  mind  more  thoroughly  than  the  accidents  of 
color  and  whiskers;  there  is  a  central  core,  a  common 
nucleus  of  meaning  which  "man"  always  suggests. 

The  more  of  these  overlapping  circles  there  are,  that  is 
the  more  individuals  the  child  perceives,  the  more  thorough- 
going will  his  concept  be.  When  he  is  building  up  the 
concept  fruit,  for  example,  he  should  have  direct  experience 
with  many  kinds  of  fruit,  compare  them  at  length,  and  try 
to  tell  what  is  common  to  them  all.  Fruit  is  the  part  of  a 
plant  that  contains  the  seed.  We  should  then  test  the  idea 
by  applying  it:  Are  potatoes  fruit? 

The  steps  in  the  very  important  process  of  forming  a  con- 


THINKING 


III 


cept  are:  (i)  perceiving  a  number  of  samples,  *  the  more 
the  better;  (2)  comparing  these  samples;  (3)  generalizing, 
rinding  what  is  common  to  all  the  individual  samples  per- 
ceived; (4)  testing  and  applying  the  idea,  practicing  with  it, 
so  to  speak,  in  order  to  get  used  to  it  and  to  be  able  to  use  it. 

Definitions. — Definitions  play  an  important  part  in  teach- 
ing. What  is  a  definition?  The  word  (from  de  and  finis) 
means  a  boundary  limit,  a  fence,  as  it  were,  which  keeps 
in  .all  objects  of  the  sort  defined,  but  keeps  out  all  others. 
At  the  gate  to  this  enclosure  certain  tests  are  applied  to  de- 
termine who  or  what  may  enter,  as  a  ticket  is  required  at 
the  door  of  the  theater.  These  tests  are  found  in  the  defini- 
tion itself. 

We  can  illustrate  this  by  means  of  a  figure.    Man  is  com- 


monly defined  as  a  rational  animal.    Now  many  creatures 


*  This  process  is  sometimes  called  presentation,  since  the  objects  are 
'presented"  to  the  senses. 


112  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

can  pass  the  animal  test  and  so  find  their  way  into  the  outer 
circle;  but  human  beings  only  can  pass  the  test  of  rationality 
and  be  admitted  to  the  inner  circle  among  men.* 

Making  finished  definitions  is  the  work  of  a  mature  thinker, 
and  should  not  be  expected  of  children.  But  it  is  good  for 
them  to  attempt  such  crude  definitions  as  their  tongues  can 
turn  off.  It  is  easy  to  understand,  now,  why  the  definition 
should  usually  come  at  the  end  of  the  study  of  a  topic, 
rather  than  at  the  beginning.  It  is  the  solid  matter  thrown 
down  by  a  great  deal  of  boiling. 

Children's  thinking. — Experiment  has  contributed  little, 
so  far,  to  our  knowledge  of  children's  thinking.  This  field 
still  lacks  explorers. 

But  since  thinking  is  a  form  of  association,  we  know  at 
once  that  our  old  laws  of  frequency,  recency,  intensity,  and 
brain-set  must  come  into  play.  Thought  is  sometimes  de- 
fined as  the  application  of  old  experience  to  new  problems. 
But  what  old  experience  is  likely  to  be  on  hand  to  meet  these 
fresh  emergencies?  Evidently  that  which,  as  related  to  the 
present  problem,  has  been  most  frequently  repeated,  most 
recently  lived,  which  was  most  intense,  and  which  fitted  in 
best  with  the  dominant  brain-set.  By  keeping  these  simple 
laws  in  mind,  we  can  explain  many  of  the  child's  thoughts 
which  would  otherwise  appear  vagrant  and  random;  f  and 


*  The  definition  shows  what  is  essential  to  each  individual  who  is 
permitted  to  "pass."  As  there  is  often  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
what  is  essential,  different  definitions  of  the  same  term  often  appear. 
Man  may  be  defined  as  a  featherless  biped  (the  definition  offered  by  a 
Greek  philosopher),  or  the  animal  with  a  chin,  or  the  self-conscious 
animal. 

t  Una  Mary,  having  been  told  that  her  soul  was  the  part  of  her  that 
"could  not  be  seen,"  later  visited  a  museum,  observed  a  skeleton  and 
concluded  that  her  skeleton  must  be  her  soul.  (See  References  at  end 
of  chapter.) 


THINKING  113 

we  can  keep  alive  in  his  mind  the  facts  he  will  need  most 
in  solving  his  problems.* 

As  no  one  has  a  general  power  of  memory  that  enables 
him  to  remember  all  things  equally  well,  so  no  pupil  can  be 
expected  to  think  along  all  lines.  We  are  fortunate  if  we 
find  even  one-talent  thinkers.  And  each  pupil,  so  far  as 
possible,  should  be  given,  or  permitted,  thought  problems 
that  appeal  to  him  personally,  that  lie  in  the  direction  of 
what  seems  likely  to  be  his  specialty. 

Training  to  think. — i.  Let  the  child  confront  a  problem 
that  is  real  for  him,  not  only  as  to  kind  but  as  to  difficulty. 
How  long  do  we  adults  ponder  problems  that  are  thrust 
upon  us  by  our  friends,  and  in  which  we  take  no  vital 
interest?  They  check,  rather  than  stimulate,  our  associa- 
tions. Children  are  similar.  There  is  not  likely  to  be  real 
thinking  except  in  the  presence  of  a  real  wonder-situation. 
Making  a  violin  from  a  cigar  box  may  rouse  more  thinking 
than  does  the  computing  of  cube  root. 

2.  See  that  the  thinker  has  an  abundance  of  material  of 
the  kind  the  solution  requires.  Giving  him  mere  words  and 
symbols  is  not  ordinarily  sufficient.  There  must  be  plenty 
of  concrete  experience  to  aid  in  forming  ideas  and  stimulat- 
ing associations.  The  composition  topic  which  hangs  loose 
in  the  child's  mind  and  sends  him  at  once  to  the  encyclo- 
pedia is  not  likely  to  start  much  thinking.  Many  geometry 
students  need  to  shear  off  pasteboard  angles  and  saw  some 
wooden  circles. 

Having  gathered  this  abundance  of  material,  he  must 
form  his  ideas  and  concepts  as  thoroughly  and  clearly  as 

*This  shows  the  value  of  a  thorough  review  as  a  preliminary  to 
attacking  a  new  topic.  See  the  discussion  of  "Reviews  and  Tests." 
Ch.  XV. 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching.— 8 


114  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

possible.  As  we  have  seen,  this  demands  the  presentation 
and  comparison  of  many  different  examples.  The  child 
who  has  seen  apples  and  oranges  only  does  not  know 
fruit. 

3.  Practice  the  thinking  process  with  the  child.     By 
means  of  questions  and  examples  stimulate  and  guide  him 
in  the  solution  of  problems,  until  the  more  usual  thought 
processes  are  fairly  established.    We  must  work  with  our 
pupils,  until  they  catch  our  methods  and  are  able  to  work 
alone.    We  must  not  be  afraid  of  giving  too  much  help  in 
the  beginning,  if  only  the  pupil's  mind  keeps  pace  with  our 
own. 

We  must  teach  him  the  importance  of  getting  all  the  facts 
in  the  case,  and*hat  he  must  "go  slow"  about  forming  a 
conclusion.  Teach  him  that  it  is  better  to  keep  on  collect- 
ing facts  and  let  his  mind  think,  than  to  force  it  to  work  on 
an  empty  stomach. 

4.  Frequently  have  pupils  translate  thought  into  action, 
abstract  words  and  other  symbols  into  concrete  reality, 
verbal  descriptions  into  shop  products.    We  must  all  test 
our  theories  in  this  practical  way.     It  is  dangerous  to 
dream  too  long  without  finding  out  whether  we  can  in 
some  measure  make  our  dreams  come  true.    Any  store 
loafer  can  furnish  a  quick  solution  for  the  most  profound 
problems.     But  it  does  us  all  good  to  be  forced  to  show 
what  lies  back  of  our  arguments,  what  right  we  have  to 
them. 

5.  Do  not  try  to  force  your  authority  or  that  of  a  book  on 
your  pupils,  but  cultivate  in  them  a  wholesome  critical 
attitude.     Keep  the  pupil  asking,  concerning  statements 
he  is  expected  to  accept:  Just  what  does  this  mean?    Is  it 
true?    How  do  I  know? 


THINKING  115 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Study  the  following  and  see  whether  the  precepts 
given  under  " Training  to  Think"  are  here  applied: 

"For  this  lesson  the  teacher  had  rigged  up  in  the  basement  a  rude 
windlass  with  a  rope  running  along  the  floor.  The  children  were 
allowed  to  handle  the  apparatus,  and  they  easily  discovered  that  the 
rope  could  be  wound  up.  At  this  point  the  teacher  proposed  to  one 
boy  that  he  might  see  if  he  could  wind  up  the  rope  with  some  one 
holding  back  on  it.  He  chose  a  boy  of  his  size,  and  was  surprised  to 
find  it  was  so  easy  to  do.  He  then  tried  two,  and  so  on  till  he  came  to 
six.  Here  he  stuck,  but  he  said  that  if  the  handle  were  closer  up  to  the 
axle  he  could  pull  up  more,  as  he  could  run  it  round  faster.  The 
teacher  fortunately  recognized  this  idea  as  the  true  budding  of  sci- 
entific method,  and  instead  of  ignoring  it  or  deciding  upon  its  merits 
dogmatically,  called  the  attention  of  the  rest  of  the  class  to  the  state- 
ment, without  indicating  whether  she  agreed  with  it  or  not.  In  the 
language  of  the  logician,  the  boy  had  stated  a  working  hypothesis. 
About  half  the  class  thought  the  boy's  idea  was  right.  In  order  to 
test  his  hypothesis,  the  boy  proposed  to  bore  a  hole  halfway  up  the 
bar  to  which  the  handle  was  attached,  and  thus  bring  it  closer  to  the 
axle.  An  auger  was  obtained  and  this  was  done.  .  .  .  When  the 
little  boy  .  .  .  had  placed  his  handle  nearer  the  axle,  he  soon  found 
that  he  could  pull  up  fewer  boys  than  before.  His  hypothesis,  useful 
while  it  lasted,  had  been  disproved  by  facts,  and  he  did  not  need  to 
turn  to  the  teacher  and  ask  whether  he  had  been  right  or  wrong."  * 

2.  What  would  you  do  to  build  up  in  a  child's  mind  the 
concept  "horse"?    "Noun?"     "Fruit?"     Should  the  ob- 
jects presented  be  very  similar?    Why? 

3.  Describe  the  circumstances  under  which  you  have 
done  some  of  your  best  thinking.    If  you  had  a  hard  prob- 
lem to  solve  would  you  try  to  reproduce  these  conditions? 

4.  Can  you  compel  your  mind  to  think  out  a  new  problem 
within  a  set  time?    Is  it  right  to  require  much  new  thought- 
work  in  a  one-  or  two-hour  examination? 


*  Colin  A.  Scott,  Social  Education,  pp.  174-176.     Used  by  permis- 
sion of  Ginn  and  Company,  publishers. 


Il6  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

5.  Thinking  is  the  application  of  past  experience  to  pres- 
ent problems.    Explain  and  illustrate. 

6.  What  is  the  difference  between  thinking  and  mere 
guessing? 

7.  Why  not  subject  pupils,  without  question,  to  the  au- 
thority of  teacher  and  textbook? 

8.  Work  out  a  practical  example  of  each  of  the  precepts 
given  under  " Training  to  Think." 

REFERENCES 

Dewey,  John,  How  We  Think. 
Hunt,  Una,  Una  Mary:  The  Inner  Life  of  a  Child. 
O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Every-day  Problems  in  Teaching,  Chs.  IV,  V. 
Schaeffer,  Nathan  C,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think. 
Scott,  Colin  A.,  Social  Education,  Ch.  VIII. 
Strayer,  George  Dray  ton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process, 
Chs.  V,  VI. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Principles  of  Teaching,  Ch.  X. 
Tracy  and  Stimpfl,  Psychology  of  Childhood,  Ch.  II. 


CHAPTER  XI 

EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS 

"There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  patient  application  of  the 
experimental  method  will  presently  solve  the  problems  of  feeling  and 
attention."  * 

EXERCISES. — Pronounce  the  following  words  and  note 
the  feelings  they  arouse:  mother,  home,  stars  and  stripes, 
love.  Now  try  these:  yellow,  buzz  saw,  amplitude,  pencil. 
What  causes  the  difference? 

Write  a  detailed  description  of  your  like  or  dislike  for 
some  object  or  person,  including  if  possible  an  account  of 
the  genesis  of  the  feeling. 

General  nature  of  feeling.f — The  quotation  above  indi- 
cates that  our  feelings  and  emotions  have  much  about 
them  that  is  still  mysterious.  We  do  not  understand  them 
nearly  so  well  as  we  do  the  knowing  processes,  perception, 
memory,  imagination,  and  thought. 

One  reason  for  this  is  that  feeling  is  so  indefinite.  The 
mind  may  be  likened  to  a  body,  the  skeleton  of  which  is 
formed  by  perception,  memory,  etc.,  and  the  fleshy  portion 
by  the  feelings.  The  knowing  processes,  like  the  bones  of 
the  body,  are  definite,  stable,  and  jointed  together  to  form 
one  unified  whole.  The  feelings  are  indefinite,  unstable, 

*  Edward  Bradford  Titchener,  Lectures  on  the  Elementary  Psychol- 
ogy of  Feeling  and  Attention.  *  Used  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan 
Company,  publishers. 

f  We  must  be  careful  not  to  confuse  feeling  with  touch  or  percep- 
tion; one  does  not  feel  with  his  fingers.  The  word  feeling  should  sug- 
gest pleasure,  displeasure,  joy,  sorrow,  anger,  love,  hate,  or  the  like. 

117 


Ii8  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

contradictory  in  their  quick  ebbings  and  Sowings,  not  fitted 
together,  apparently,  so  as  to  show  much  unity  or  system. 

Another  important  fact  is  that  feeling  does  not  correspond 
with  the  outside  world  as  thought  does.  Two  stand  gazing 
at  the  sunset.  "How  sad,"  feels  one,  "for  but  last  week 
my  dead  love  watched  the  sunset  with  me."  "How  joyous," 
so  run  the  emotions  of  the  other,  "for  to-morrow  is  my 
marriage  morn."  Now  the  sunset  is  there  in  the  physical 
world  as  surely  as  anything  can  be,  and  would  remain  there 
if  both  the  watchers  perished.  It  sets  up  a  mental  repro- 
duction of  itself  in  the  minds  of  both ;  but  their  feelings  are 
not  a  mental  reproduction  of  the  sun  or  the  clouds,  nor  is 
it  the  purpose  or  business  of  these  feelings  to  represent 
truthfully,  to  correspond  with,  anything  at  all  in  sun  or 
clouds.  For  this  reason  there  is  such  a  thing  as  true  and 
correct  thinking  about  sun  and  sunsets,  but  no  such  thing 
as  true  and  correct  feeling  about  them.  It  is  no  doubt 
correct  to  think  that  the  sun  gives  out  heat  vibrations;  but 
it  is  neither  correct  nor  incorrect,  true  nor  untrue,  to  feel 
happy  or  unhappy  in  the  presence  of  the  sun.  Each  fur- 
nishes his  own  feelings,  so  to  speak,  while  the  sunset,  as  an 
external  object,  remains  the  same  for  all.  Our  feelings  then 
are  peculiarly  our  own;  they  depend  largely  on  the  condi- 
tion of  our  nervous  system. 

Why  feelings  are  important  in  teaching. — Knowing  is  an 
instrument,  a  means  to  fine  living,  though  a  very  necessary 
one,  as  a  skeleton  is  necessary  to  prevent  one  from  being  a 
jellyfish.  Feeling  is  not  so  much  an  instrument  or  means  to 
anything  else;  %it  is  an  end  in  itself,  our  heart  of  hearts.  It 
is  that  which  gives  value  to  everything  else.  We  wisely 
inquire  about  our  friends,  not  by  asking  what  they  know,  or 
how  they  think,  but  how  they  feel. 


EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS  119 

We  shall  find,  too,  that  many,  if  not  most  of  our  acts, 
important  and  unimportant,  are  decided  on  the  basis  of 
feeling.  We  take  a  glass  of  soda  water,  marry  this  or  that 
man  or  woman,  select  a  blue  tie  instead  of  a  red  one,  join 
one  church  or  another,  because  we  feel  like  it.  Children, 
especially,  base  their  decisions  on  feeling.  Liking  or  dis- 
liking the  teacher  makes  much  more  difference  with  them 
than  liking  or  disliking  the  President  does  with  us.  And 
their  accomplishment  in  any  branch  depends  upon  whether 
they  "just  love"  it  or  "just  hate"  it.  Interest,  which 
puts  high  voltage  into  a  child's  brain  currents,  is  chiefly  a 
matter  of  feeling. 

The  teacher  should  cultivate  her  own  feelings  also. 
"Knowledge  is  power"  when  you  are  dealing  with  nature; 
it  makes  no  difference  to  your  chemical  experiment  whether 
you  look  crossly  or  pleasantly  at  the  test  tube,  if  you  know 
what  is  going  on  in  it.  But  it  may  make  a  great  difference 
with  your  teaching  if  you  look  crossly  or  pleasantly  at  your 
pupils.  In  dealing  with  human  nature,  feeling  as  well  as 
knowledge  is  power.  The  impolite  clerk  loses  the  sale. 
The  impolite  nation  loses  power  and  respect.  The  austere 
moralist  lacks  influence,  while  the  smiling  boss  catches  the 
ballot.  The  profound-  student-oton  larks  .th&J/Jiuinan~ 
nature ' '  necessary  to  success  as  a  teacher,  while  the  mediocre 
intellectl)ehind  a  cheerful,  sociable  face  scores  large.  We 
teacherlTwho  want  to  reform  the  world  after  an  idealistic 
pattern  should  let  good  will  flow  freely,  through  hand 
clasp,  and  voice,  and  eye,  and  smile,  and  every  other 
channel. 

Culture  and  control  of  feeling. — First  of  all,  let  us  ob- 
serve that  our  old  laws  of  frpqi]pnry1  recency,  intensity,  and 
brain-set  hold  here  also.  For  these  are  simplyThe  laws  by 


120  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

which  brain  paths  are  formed,  the  laws  by  which  the  living 
wires  of  the  brain  are  strung.  Given  a  perception  or  an 
idea,  and  the  resulting  feeling  will  be  the  one  most  fre- 
quently, recently,  and  intensely  associated  therewith,  and 
the  one  which  fits  in  the  best  with  our  present  set  of  mind. 
One  need  only  mention  "home, "  "the  holidays/'  or  "gradu- 
ation," to  start  characteristic  feelings  in  the  hearts  of  all. 
But  no  one  has  equally  strong  feelings  for  everything.  As 
each  has  special  aptitude  in  some  kind  of  memory  and 
thought,  so  has  he  in  feeling.  No  one,  probably,  appre- 
ciates all  kinds  of  music,  poetry,  and  architecture;  all  love, 
labor,  and  devotion, — animal,  human,  and  divine.  Here 
as  everywhere  the  possessor  of  even  a  single  talent  is  to  be 
congratulated.  We  should  keep  this  in  mind  in  dealing 
with  children,  and  not  expect  a  sympathetic  emotional 
response  to  every  lesson.  We  may  score  a  high  success  by 
failing  to  rouse  interest,  for  in  this  way  we  often  discover 
what  not  to  do. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  following  precepts  are  most 
valuable. 

C3T  See  that  physical  conditions  are  favorable.  Brain-set 
"depends  largely  Oil  bodily  processes.  When  the  body  has 
plenty  of  energy  to  meet  all  demands  made  on  it,  the  re- 
sulting feeling  tone  is  pleasant;  but  when  the  drafts  of 
energy  are  so  great  that  the  body  cannot  well  meet  them, 
cannot  pay  its  bills  so  to  speak,  we  have  a  condition  con- 
ducive to  irritability,  petulance,  peevishness,  destructive 
tempers  of  all  sorts. 

Let  us  have  patience  with  the  half-fed,  the  sleepless,  the 
diseased,  the  overworked,  those  who  are  poor  in..jiery,e 
energy  both  in  school  anduut.  even  if  they  are  often  irritable 
and  rebellious.  Probably  there  never  was  a  case  of  chronic 


EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS  121 

bad  temper  that  did  not  have  a  physical  basis.  Many  school 
children  are  unruly  for  this  very  reason.  Perhaps  we  can- 
not always  remedy  the  case,  but  we  can  keep  our  own 
nerves  fresh,  and  ease  the  situation  with  patience. 

This  means  that  all  who  would  remain  cheerful  must 
have  a  reasonable  amount  of  time  for  recreation,  pure 
pleasure.  It  is  the  teacher's  first  duty  to  make  her  pupils 
happy  in  their  work.  To  insure  this,  she  must  beware  of 
applying  herself  so  unsparingly  as  to  become  chronically 
solemn. 

2.  To  create  a  liking  for  any  situation  or  subject,  pro- 
vide for  successful  activity  in  it.     Successful  activity  is 
accompanied  by  agreeable  feeling,  and  vice  versa.    Thus  do 
we  entertain  our  friends,  by  getting  them  to  do  something, 
and  do  it  with  success,  even  if  it  is  only  talking.    And  so  do 
we  like  to  be  entertained. 

School  is  not  mere  entertainment,  but  the  principle  holds 
true.  The  pupil  must  feel  that  he  is  succeeding,  or  he  will 
withdraw  from  the  campaign  if  he  can.  Recall  the  pure 
joy  you  felt  the  first  time  you  actually  read  off  a  whole 
paragraph  of  some  foreign  language  without  referring  to  the 
"vocabulary " !  It  is  worth  while  to  go  slowly  sometimes,  to 
provide  easy  exercises,  and  try,  by  every  means  that  does 
not  sacrifice  the  general  good,  to  give  each  pupil  a  flush  of 
this  feeling  of  success.  Similarly  superintendents  and 
principals  should  help  timid  teachers  to  feel  that  they  are 
succeeding. 

3.  Control  feeling,  not  directly,  but  indirectly,  by  .con- 
trolling the  sensations  and  associations  that  give  rise  to  it. 
This  rule,  wherever  it  can  be  carried  out,  will  enable  us 
both  to  evoke  desirable  feelings  and  to  repress  feelings  that 
are  undesirable. 


122  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Thorndike  gives  three  ways  by  which  desirable  feelings 
may  be  called  forth:  (a)  by  ideas,  connected  jyith  JLhe  Demo- 
tion iq  the  past,  as  when  joy  follows  the  announcement  of  a 
favorite  excursion;  (b)  by  imitation  —  our  emotions  follow 
those  of  our.  group  0£  set;  and  (c)  by  the 


characteristic  of  the  emotion.  Act  kindly  or  bravely  and 
you  feel  kind  or  brave.  "This  last  is  indeed  the  surest  way 
to  secure  the  presence  of  an  emotion.  In  the  long  run  our 
feelings  grow  into  harmony  with  our  conduct."  Treat  the 
unwelcome  caller  cordially  and  he  will  soon  be  welcome. 
Pet  the  repulsive  child  in  your  school  and  he  will  cease  to  be 
repulsive.  Many  a  brave  man  has  found  that  courage  is 
largely  a  matter  of  habit;  if  we  act  as  if  we  are  not  afraid,  we 
shall  soon  have  no  fear. 

Similarly,  undesirable  feelings  may  be  dispelled  by  sub- 
stituting new  sensation  processes  for  old,  and  so  generating  a 
new  feeling  in  place  of  the  old  one.  Show  the  baby  a  new 
toy  and  he  often  forgets  to  cry  for  the  one  he  had.  So  pun- 
ishment often  introduces  some  quick,  sharp  sensations,  and 
creates  a  new  center  of  interest.  Set  the  mind  at  work  on  a 
different  subject  if  you  want  a  different  feeling. 

4.  Quench  an  emotion  in  its  beginning,  or  else  if  possible 
let  it  exhaust  itself  by  running  its  course.  Wherever  no 
moral  wrong  will  result,  it  is  always  better  that  an  emotion 
once  aroused  should  "come  out"  in  some  form  or  other.  If 
it  cannot  be  expressed,  it  should  be  coolly  thought  over, 
introspected,  analyzed,  dissected,  and  thrust  into  outer 
darkness,  never  to  return.  One  who  cannot  by  some  such 
process  rid  himself  of  hideous  thoughts  and  black  emotions 
is  in  dire  need  of  a  confessor. 

The  angered  child  may  either  (i)  be  distracted  by  other 

*  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Principles  of  Teaching,  pp.  199,  200. 


EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS  123 

stimuli  at  the  beginning  of  his  passion,  or  (2)  if  it  has 
reached  a  high  pitch,  he  may  be  disregarded  and  allowed  to 
wear  out  his  ill  feeling  by  sulking  or  otherwise,  so  long  as  he 
does  no  damage.  But  it  is  probably  unwise  to  use  summary 
measures  when  the  passion  is  at  its  height.  Later,  when  he 
is  in  docile  and  sympathetic  mood,  encourage  him  in  a 
kind  way  to  reflect  on  his  ill  behavior,  and  lead  him  to  set 
his  mind  firmly  to  resist  future  attacks.  We  older  children 
also  may  well  engage  in  such  reflection  during  calm  mo- 
ments, and  establish  a  mental  set,  enforced  by  a  resolu- 
tion, such  as  "Keep  cool,"  that  will  flash  into  mind  at  the 
critical  moment  and  prevent  an  outbreak.  Often  our 
passions  get  the  better  of  us  because  we  "forget."  * 


*  Self-consciousness  is  a  form  of  disagreeable  feeling  so  common  as 
to  deserve  special  treatment.  It  frequently  troubles  the  teacher,  and 
students  often  ask  for  a  remedy  for  it.  The  following  will  help  to 
dispel  it. 

1.  Have  a  regular  daily  time  for  reflection:  criticize  your  errors 
unsparingly,  praise  your  good  deeds  unstintingly, — it  is  only  when 
compared  with  divine  perfection  that  you  are  a  poor  worm,— lay  your 
plan  for  the  future;  then  live,  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  with  all  the 
abandon  of  a  good  actor,  and  refuse  to  think  of  self;  you  have  more 
important  business  on  hand. 

2.  Feel  kindly  toward  every  one;  don't  regard  your  neighbors  as 
critics,  but  as  friends.   Feel  the  same  toward  a  class  or  an  audience.  If 
they  are  friends,  you  should  enjoy  having  them  look  at  and  listen  to 
you.    We  should  all  do  our  best  for  each  other,  all  struggle  upward 
together. 

3.  y^e,  yourself  in  some  large  cause,  preaching,  kindergartening, 
healing,  wnatever  seems  to  you  to  b'efmost  worth  doing.    Compared 
with  the  advancement  of  this  great  purpose,  what  may  happen  to 
your  little  self  is  not  worth  thinking  of. 

4.  In  any  embarrassing  situation,  keep  your  mind  on  n><^lfs.    Look 
ahead  tQMwrhai..yj3y.,§(ijppU^P^fiijdQJie-    Never  mind  the  details  of  method 
just  then,  nor  what  others  are  saying  or  thinking — go  on!    Get  there! 
Achieve  your  purpose  in  spite  of  all. 

We  cannot  overcome  self-consciousness  by  a  single  effort,  however. 
Practice  makes  perfect  here,  as  elsewhere. 


124  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Interest  and  attention. — Interest  and  attention  are,  as 
Titchener  says,  two  sides  of  the  same  state  of  mind.  Interest 
is  the  feeling  side,  attention  the  knowing  side. 

The  old  opinion  concerning  the  interests  of  children 
seemed  to  be  that  the  curriculum  was  fixed,  and  that  the 
children  were  to  be  fitted  to  it.  The  teacher  was  expected 
to  "arouse  interest"  in  it  in  some  way,  page  after  page, 
point  after  point.  The  newer  teaching  is  that  the  child  is 
the  standard.  The  course  of  study  must  be  fitted  to  his 
needs.  Interest  in  anything  means  that  certain  brain  cells 
are  ripening;  and  just  then  is  the  psychological  moment  to 
teach  that  thing.  Theoretically,  this  new  view  is  no  doubt 
closer  to  the  truth  than  the  old;  practically,  with  a  swarm  of 
children  to  teach  and  a  swarm  of  subjects  to  teach  them,  we 
do  the  best  we  can. 

Nature  of  attention.— Attention  is  not  another  mental 
process  in  addition  to  those  we  have  studied;  it  is  simply  the 
condition  of  the  mind.  We  do  not  have  clouds,  wind,  sun- 
shine, etc.,  and  weather.  Weather  is  just  the  condition,  the 
relation  of  all  these  elements.  On  my  desk  I  do  not  have 
books,  papers,  pencils,  and  disorder.  The  disorder  is  merely 
the  way  these  things  are.  So  attention  is  merely  the  way 
the  mind  is  at  any  moment. 

Controlling  attention. — There  is  no  magic  way  of  taking 
captive  the  mind  of  anyone  we  choose  and  compelling  it  to 
attend  to  what  we  will.  Something  can  be  done,  however, 
to  keep  the  stream  of  our  pupil's  consciousness  flowing  in 
the  desired  direction.  This  something  consists  in  applying 
the  familiar  laws  of  recency,  frequency,  intensity,  and 
brain-set. 

A  kindergarten  pupil,  being  shown  a  large  picture, 
pointed  at  once  to  a  small  and  inconspicuous  flag  on  the 


EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS  125 

top  of  a  great  building.  He  had  just  been  studying  flags 
in  school.  If  you  have  recently  taught  fractions,  you  can 
attract  attention  to  decimals  by  presenting  them  as  a  new 
sort  of  fraction.  Just  after  a  fire  story  has  appeared  in  the 
papers  pupils  will  attend  intently  to  the  fire  drill.  A  pupil 
in  your  room  is  taken  ill;  teach  now  the  hygiene  of  the 
disease. 

Frp^jjpnry  jf  jt  is  pleasant  frequency,  is  almost  invincible. 
"  Safety  first,"  the  motto  on  the  blackboard,  the  memory 
gem,  anything  which  is, 

"  Like  childhood's  simple  rimes, 
Said  o'er  a  thousand  times," 

wins  by  its  very  persistence. 

The  law  of  intensity  shows  its  power  in  bright  colors,  the 
sharply  pronounced  name,  the  keen  pleasure  of  successful 
activity.  It  draws  attention  to  the  biggest,  the  oldest,  the 
greatest,  the  most  beautiful — to  the  superlative  degree  of 
all  times  and  places,  and  to  the  "only"  *  of  whatever  kind. 

BrajiL^et  is  the  most  sweeping  law.  To  begin  with,  every 
normal  person  is  born  curious.  Announce  a  mystery  and 
you  have  every  eye  (and  some  mouths)  wide  open.  Things 
novel  in  your  classroom,  a  new  object  or  bit  of  apparatus,  or 
some  new  procedure,  will  make  everyone  take  notice.f  A 
reasonable  amount  of  such  novelty  is  easily  and  constantly 
supplied  by  the  changing  seasons  and  the  natural  progress 
of  our  course  of  lessons. 

But  it  is  personal  mental  set  that  cuts  the  channel  of  our 

*  A  friend  states  that  with  no  special  effort,  he  has  remembered  for 
years  the  fact  that  the  only  silent  m  in  the  English  language  is  in 
mnemonic  and  related  words. 

f  Some  teachers  take  advantage  of  this  by  establishing  a  "beauty 
corner,"  where  objects  of  aesthetic  interest  are  placed  from  time  to 
time. 


126  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

attention  deepest.  Talk  money  to  the  miser  and  he  can 
hardly  choose  but  listen;  the  hungry  man  looks  in  at  the 
butcher's  and  the  grocer's  as  he  passes;  the  stamp-collecting 
boy  scrutinizes  every  letter;  your  little  learners  are  all  alert 
if  you  propose  a  game.  Most  girls  attend  easily  to  sewing, 
most  boys  to  whittling. 

Fortunately  we  are  becoming  rich  enough  and  wise 
enough  to  furnish  the  materials  and  let  the  children  work 
out  their  natural  interests — grow  into  an  education.  But  it 
is  still  necessary,  many  times,  to  arouse  interest  in  school 
work,  and  secure  attention  to  it,  by  setting  the  pupil's  heart 
on  something  that  lies  beyond, — the  pleasure  of  his  parents, 
his  standing  in  the  community,  "getting  a  job,"  making  a 
living.  We  should  center  the  feelings  of  each  on  the  highest 
object  he  can  appreciate  at  the  time,  and  then  try  to  see  that 
his  ideal  grows  as  he  grows. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Make  a  list  of  people  who  are  very  thoughtful,  and 
one  of  people  who  are  very  emotional.     Which  seem  to 
succeed  better?    What  does  success  mean? 

2.  Criticize  the  romantic  ideal  of  life,  that  is,  the  ideal 
that  makes  feeling  the  guide.    Is  it  characteristic  of  feeling 
to  plan  far  ahead? 

3.  Would  it  be  wise  for  one  to  kill  off  his  feelings  if  he 
could?    If  not,  what  is  their  true  place? 

4.  Which  is  better  when  things  go  wrong,  to  become 
angry  or  discouraged,  or  to  think? 

5.  Can  you  think  profoundly  and  feel  deeply  at  the  same 
time? 

6.  Are  you  a  thinker  or  a  feeler,  for  the  most  part?    Do 
you  change  as  you  grow  older? 

7.  A  lady  who  had  long  taken  medicine  from  a  certain 


EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS  127 

type  of  spoon,  found  herself  unable  to  enjoy  ice  cream  from 
a  spoon  of  similar  pattern.    Why  was  this? 

8.  Give  some  devices  for  arousing  interest  and  securing 
attention.    Base  them  on  the  laws  of  attention. 

9.  What  does  proper  expression  in  reading  have  to  do 
with  the  feelings?    How  can  we  secure  it? 

10.  How  would  you  deal  with  a  pupil  who  refused  to  obey 
you,  evidently  because  he  was  very  angry  or  otherwise 
excited?     Can  you  think  of  any  situation  where  it  is  a 
teacher's  privilege  or  duty  to  be  angry? 

11.  Do  you  believe  in  forced  apologies  from  your  pupils? 
Why? 

12.  It  is  right  to  assume  an  excellence  which  we  do  not 
possess,  as  a  means  to  the  attainment  of  it.    Debate  this. 
Remember  that,  "In  the  long  run,  our  feelings  grow  into 
harmony  with  our  conduct." 

13.  Have  you  ever  succeeded  in  a  branch  of  study  that 
was  permanently  uninteresting? 

14.  State  what  you  believe  to  be  the  relation  between 
one's  natural  inheritance,  and  his  ability  to  be  interested 
in  (and  attend  to)  various  branches  of  study  and  lines  of 
endeavor. 

15.  How  do  you  feel  when  you  have  recovered  from  some 
passion?    Can  you  make  a  list  of  feelings  which  you  think 
should  be  killed  out  of  one's  personality? 

REFERENCES 

Home,  Herman  Harrell,  Psychological  Principles  of  Education, 
Part  III. 

James,  William,  Talks  to  Teachers. 

Klapper,  Paul,  Principles  of  Educational  Practice,  pp.  408-420. 
Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Principles  of  Teaching,  Ch.  XII. 
Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  Chs.  XIII,  XV. 


CHAPTER  XII 

LEVELS  OF  LEARNING 

"It  is  a  general  principle  in  psychology  that  consciousness  deserts 
all  processes  where  it  can  no  longer  be  of  use.  The  tendency  of  con- 
sciousness to  a  minimum  of  complication  is  in  fact  a  dominating 
law."  * 

EXERCISE. — Make  a  list  of  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
"Samples  of  Behavior."  Include  such  machine-like  be- 
havior as  heartbeat  and  breathing,  habits  like  brushing 
your  hair  and  sugaring  your  oatmeal,  and  more  important 
acts  which  have  cost  you  some  real  thinking.  Try  to  ar- 
range them  in  classes,  according  to  the  amount  of  con- 
sciousness necessary  for  the  performance  of  each. 

The  business  of  using  the  body. — We  have  now  con- 
sidered all  that  is  most  important  in  our  mental  make-up. 
We  have  yet  to  study  the  influence  the  mind  has  on  what  we 
do.  We  may  call  this  the  business  of  using  the  body. 

In  every  well-managed  business  there  are  grades  of  power 
and  service.  In  the  shop,  for  example,  we  find  (i)  the  work- 
man at  his  bench,  going  through  the  same  process  again 
and  again  with  little  variation';  (2)  the  foreman,  whose 
tasks  are  more  various,  and  who  controls  many  workmen; 
and  (3)  the  chief  of  the  whole  concern. 

Consciousness  is  a  good  business  manager.  In  the  ner- 
vous system,  we  find  three  levels  (see  figure,  page  129):  (i) 

*  William  James,  Principles  of  Psychology.  Used  by  permission  of 
Henry  Holt  and  Company,  publishers. 

128 


LEVELS  OF  LEARNING 


129 


the  spinal  centers,  which  go  through  the  same  process  again 
and  again,. with  little  variation;  (2)  the  lower  brain  centers, 
whose  tasks  are  more  various,  each  controlling  many  spinal 
centers;  and  (3)  the  higher  centers,  where  dwells  the  chief 
of  the  whole  concern.  This  chief  is  yourself. 

Levels  of  behavior,  and  of  consciousness. — In  such  be- 
havior as  ordinary  breathing  and  walking,  the  body  acts 
much  like  a  machine.  Such  behavior  is  called  automatic. 
Movements  that  are  automatic  are.  taken  care  of  by  the 
lower  workmen,  the  spinal  centers,  and  require  no  con- 
sciousness to  direct  them.  We  shall  call  this  low-level 
behavior. 


Levels   of 
Behavior 

High-level  behav- 
ior: volitional. 


Mid-level  behav- 
ior: habitual  and 
instinctive. 


Levels  of  the 
Nervous  System 


Low-level  behavior: 
automatic. 


Levels   of 
Consciousness 

Action  guided  by 
thought  (and  feeling). 


Action  touched  off  by 
a  perception  or  an  idea, 
not  guided  by  thought, 
but  usually  accompanied 
by  feeling,  often  intense. 

Consciousness  un- 
necessary. 


Mid-level  behavior  is  a  step  higher.    It  is  well  illustrated 

by  our  habits,  such  as  going  to  classes,  eating  lunch  at 

noon,  going  to  bed  at  a  certain  hour.    Here  the  action  is 

touched  off  by  a  perception  (such  as  seeing  the  clock)  or 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 9 


130  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

an  idea  (as  the  idea  of  food).  It  is  not  guided  by  thought; 
mid-level  behavior  is  usually  accompanied  by  feeling,  often 
intense  feeling. 

High-level  behavior  consists  of  those  acts  which  require 
thought,  such  as  choosing  which  book  you  will  buy,  or  de- 
ciding how  you  will  spend  your  vacation.  Such  acts,  be- 
cause they  require  will,  that  is,  making  up  one's  mind,  are 
often  called  volitional.* 

Low-level  behavior. — Some  of  our  automatic,  machine- 
like  movements  are  inherited.  Such  are  the  beating  of  the 
heart,  ordinary  breathing  and  winking,  and  the  change 
of  size  of  the  pupil  of  the  eye  under  the  influence  of 
light.f 

As  teachers,  we  are  much  more  concerned  with  those 
automatic  movements  which  are  not  inherited  but  acquired. 
Our  oldest,  simplest,  most  thoroughly  formed  habits  tend 
to  sink  into  such  a  mindless  rehearsal  of  old  deeds.  Leave 
your  watch  at  the  jeweler's  and  count  how  often  you  pull 
its  ghost  from  your  pocket.  Your  petty  chagrin  makes  you 
conscious  of  the  occurrence.  Here  belong  all  the  perfected 
performances  of  muscular  skill;  the  fingers  on  the  keyboard 
of  piano  or  typewriter  become  almost  as  much  a  part  of  the 
mechanism  as  are  the  levers  and  wires  within.  Our  minds 
laboriously  look  after  the  acquisition  of  all  such  acts,  and 
then,  as  James  says,  "  consciousness  deserts  all  processes 
where  it  can  no  longer  be  of  use." 


*  The  nervous  system  is  not  divided  into  compartments  by  par- 
titions; and  there  is  no  sharp  dividing  line  between  these  kinds  of 
behavior — they  shade  into  each  other.  But  the  division  into  levels  is 
valuable  for  practical  teaching  purposes. 

Note  that  these  three  levels  of  behavior  require,  respectively,  no 
consciousness,  feeling  consciousness,  and  thought  consciousness. 

t  Inherited  automatic  behavior  is  called  reflex. 


LEVELS  OF  LEARNING  131 

Mid-level  behavior. — The  two  forms  of  mid-level  be- 
havior are  instinct  and  habit.  Instinct  is  inherited  mid- 
level  behavior.  An  instinct  is  an  old  racial  trait,  born  in  us 
because  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  all  creatures  whose 
kind  is  to  continue.  For  example,  those  animals,  human  or 
lower,  that  lack  the  traits  which  lead  to  mating  and  the 
rearing  of  young  must  perish  from  the  earth.  They  cannot 
pass  on  their  natures  to  posterity;  there  is  no  posterity  for 
them.  Similarly  those  who  have  too  little  self-assertion 
and  energy  to  win  the  means  of  subsistence  for  themselves 
and  their  young  are  also  doomed.  Nature  offers  the  prize 
of  life  to  those  only  who  are  willing  to  strive  for  it. 

This  has  been  true  for  ages.  Evidently  those  who  people 
the  earth  to-day  must  be  descended  from  good  fighters  and 
ardent  lovers.  All  others  have  been  persistently  compelled 
to  die  out.  It  is  no  wonder  that  our  race  continues  to  make 
war,  and  that  love  is  the  greatest  theme  in  literature.  These 
fundamental  traits,  and  others  like  them,  are  very  old,  very 
strongly  "bred  in  the  bone,"  and  are  present  in  some  meas- 
ure in  almost  everyone. 

This  means  that  we  are  born  with  certain  well-marked 
brain  paths  ready  formed,  or  at  least  born  with  a  strong 
tendency  to  form  them.  Our  nervous  systems  are  machines 
made  to  perform  in  a  given  way.  It  seems  "natural"  that 
the  heart  should  pump  blood:  it  is  made  to  do  that.  So  it 
is  "  natural "  that  the  average  child  should  eat,  play,  imitate, 
and  be  self-assertive:  his  nervous  system  is  made  to  do  that. 
Because  the  nerve  currents  shoot  so  easily  along  the  ready 
formed  fibers,  an  old,  instinctive  act  requires  little  learning; 
it  "does  itself,"  blindly,  persistently,  but  often  irresistibly. 
A  bird  that  has  never  seen  a  nest  will  build  one  at  the  right 
moment.  Nor  has  she  any  idea  how  her  romance  is  coming 


132  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

out*  She  builds  and  bills  and  coos  and  sits  until — lo!  a 
nest  and  birdlings. 

As  teachers,  we  must  learn  to  use  the  power  of  these 
nervous  explosions  to  drive  the  car  of  education.  When- 
ever a  child  learns  a  lesson  under  the  stimulus  of  competition 
he  gets  a  thrill  of  the  old  instinct  of  self-assertion,  rivalry, 
fighting, — in  a  modified,  modern  form. 

Habit  is  the  acquired  form  of  mid-level  behavior.  Habit 
and  instinct  are  precisely  alike,  except  that  instinct  is  in- 
herited and  habit  is  acquired. f  A  habit,  then,  has  to  be 
learned ;  the  nerve  paths  that  control  it  must  be  formed  by 
individual  practice.  But  once  fixed,  we  do  not  have  to 
work  it.  It  works  us. 

Mid-level  behavior  is  blind,  unreasoning.  On  this  level 
we  do  not  think  how  we  should  act;  we  feel  what  we  desire 
to  do.  Yet  the  great  bulk  of  human  behavior  is  of  just  this 
kind.  The  sitting  hen,  the  playing  child,  the  glutton,  the 
romantic  lover, — all  have  the  same  reason  for  doing  what 
they  do;  they  "feel  like  it."  (See  Chapter  XI,  "Educating 
the  Feelings.") 

High-level  behavior. — High-level  or  volitional  behavior 
differs  from  all  below  it  in  being  thoughtful.  Because  it  is 
thoughtful  it  does  not,  like  the  lower  types  of  behavior, 
merely  repeat  an  old  performance  in  an  old  way,  perhaps  .a 
foolish  way  at  that.  The  lower  animals,  following  their 
instincts,  do  this  year  what  they  did  last,  and  so  on  to  the 
end  of  the  repeating  years.  Not  so  man ;  the  more  of  a  man 

*  Swallows  have  been  known  to  migrate  and  leave  their  young  to 
starve  in  the  nest.  It  seems  impossible  that  they  can  have  any  clear 
idea  as  to  what  will  be  the  outcome  of  their  behavior. 

t  Instinct  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  an  "inherited  habit."  We 
might  also  speak  of  habit  as  an  "acquired  instinct."  But  both  of 
these  phrases  are  of  doubtful  value. 


LEVELS  OF  LEARNING 


133 


he  is,  the  more  he  changes  his  behavior  to  suit  the  circum- 
stances. 

Nor  is  high-level  behavior  untinged  by  feeling.  The  man 
of  thought  does  not  dismiss  his  feelings  as  valueless;  he  tries 
to  make  his  head  and  his  heart  agree. 

Levels  of  learning.— As  there  are  three  levels  of  behavior, 
so  there  are  three  corresponding  levels  of  learning.  Our 
pupils  are  always  using  some  one  of  them,  and  it  is  often 
an  important  question  to  know  which  to  employ.  To 
teach  a  child  is  to  make  new  paths  in  his  nervous  system. 
The  question  is,  by  what  method  shall  they  be  made? 

Low-level  learning. — Low-level  learning  is  accomplished 
by  repetition  as  nearly  mechanical  and  mindless  as  may  be. 
It  is  illustrated  by  the  boy  who  runs  over  and  over  the  words 
of  his  spelling  lesson,  machine  fashion,  while  his  mind  is 
chiefly  intent  on  counting  the  marbles  in  his  pocket.  Low- 
level  learning  also  includes  the  process  of  "trial  and  error," 
described  below. 

The  illustration  shows  a  form  of  maze  used  to  test  the 
learning  power  of  animals.  The  lesson  to  be  learned  is  the 
path  from  the  entrance  to  the  food  box  in  the  center. 


Human  beings,  when  tried  in  such  a  maze,  "did,  on  the 
whole,  rather  less  well  than  the  rats,  although  some  of  them, 


134          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

after  their  first  success,  cut  down  the  time  for  the  next 
success  rather  more  rapidly  than  the  rats.  The  problem 
is  not  one  which  permits  itself  to  be  intellectualized  very 
readily,  and  in  consequence  the  'try,  try  again*  method, 
known  in  comparative  psychology  as  the  '  trial  and  error 
method/  is  the  only  one  available.  The  evidence  thus  far 
in  hand  indicates  that  this  is  the  all  but  universal  method 
employed  by  animals  in  problem  solving."  * 

Evidently  low-level  learning  is  wasteful  of  time  and 
energy,  and  liable  to  fix  bad  habits  on  us.  We  should  never 
adopt  it  if  we  can  avoid  it.  But  sometimes  it  is  the  only 
way;  for  some  problems  are  like  puzzles — we  cannot  think 
them  out  because  no  facts  are  furnished  to  serve  as  a  basis 
for  thinking.  Even  a  detective  must  have  some  clue  to  his 
mystery.  In  such  puzzle  problems  we  must  try  more  or  less 
systematically  until  we  succeed,  and  then  note  how  the 
success  came,  so  we  can  repeat  it. 

Unhappily  many  pupils,  in  their  efforts  to  avoid  think- 
ing, fall  into  low-level  learning.  They  not  only  repeat  their 
tasks  mechanically,  but  they  guess  carelessly  at  the  words 
in  the  reading  lesson,  and  figure  their  arithmetic  problems 
this  way  and  that  in  the  hope  that  the  answer  will  come  out 
somehow.  We  should  be  able  to  convince  them  that  it 
does  not  pay  in  the  long  run  to  learn  by  the  "rat "  method. 

Mid-level  learning. — Here  we  select  some  instinct  or  some 
old  habit,  and  turn  all  its  force  toward  the  accomplishment 
of  the  new  lesson.  For  example,  if  a  dog  has  a  hunting  and 
chasing  instinct,  we  may  take  advantage  of  it  and  train  him 
into  habits  that  make  him  a  good  caretaker  of  flocks  and 
herds.  His  native  tendency  to  paw  out  food  and  eat  it  can 

*  James  Rowland  Angell,  Chapters  from  Modern  Psychology,  p.  260. 
"Used  by  permission  of  Longmans,  Green  and  Company,  publishers. 


LEVELS  OF  LEARNING  135 

be  so  modified  by  having  him  dig  food  from  one's  hand,  that 
he  will  gradually  learn  to  "shake  hands "  even  when  no  food 
is  offered.  And  once  the  habit  of  shaking  hands  is  estab- 
lished, we  can  build  on  that  the  further  habit  of  refusing  to 
shake  if  one  offers  the  left  hand  or  has  his  fingers  crossed. 
The  animal  trainer  accomplishes  practically  all  of  his  mar- 
velous results  by  mid-level  methods.  * 

With  children,  the  instinct  to  imitate  is  so  often  used  that 
mid-level  learning  is  sometimes  called  learning  by  imitation. 
But  many  other  instincts  are  employed,  such  as  play, 
inquisitiveness,  the  collecting  instinct,  the  desire  to  roam, 
the  tendency  to  build  and  make.  Old  habits  are  also  used 
as  a  basis  for  new  ones.  If  a  pupil  in  penmanship  has 
learned  to  make  good  straight  lines,  angles,  and  ovals,  we 
can  easily  teach  him  to  make  good  letters. 

High-level  learning. — High-level  learning  is  thoughtful 
learning.  Ideas  lead.  Our  chief  dependence  is  on  explana- 
tion, rather  than  showing.  By  the  mid-level  method  the 
pupil  learns  from  the  hand  up,  manual  before  mental;  by 
the  high-level  process  he  learns  from  the  head  down,  mental 
before  manual.  This  high-level,  coldly  intellectual  process 
is  one  that  teachers  are  in  danger  of  using  all  too  much. 

Illustration  and  summary. — Suppose  a  child  is  to  be 
taught  to  hold  his  pen,  or  inflect  his  voice,  or  use  good  Eng- 
lish, or  sing,  or  throw  a  ball,  or  swim,  or  use  a  saw,  or  per- 
form any  other  act  of  skill:  (i)  he  may  be  left  to  work  out 
the  puzzle  alone  by  trying  ten  thousand  times  until  he 
happens  on  some  way  that  works  fairly  well,  and  drills  it 
home;  or  (2)  he  may  be  given  suggestions,  shown  how,  told 


*  Angell's  statement,  quoted  above,  that  animals  learn  almost 
wholly  by  trial  and  error,  applies  to  animals  when  left  to  themselves, 
not  when  they  have  a  trainer. 


136  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

to  "do  it  this  way,"  "follow  me,"  encouraged  to  build  on 
the  basis  of  some  instinct  or  old  habit;  or  (3)  he  may  have 
the  matter  explained  to  him  and  then  proceed  to  work  it 
out  in  his  own  way. 

We  have  seen  that  low-level  learning  is  unintelligent, 
extremely  wasteful  of  time  and  energy,  and  likely  to  fix 
bad  habits.  We  should  use  it  only  as  a  last  resort.  The 
high-level  process,  while  valuable  as  an  aid,  can  seldom  be 
used  alone.  There  are  few  boys  who,  from  the  explanation 
of  why  a  ball  curves,  as  given  in  physics,  can  work  out  the 
best  method  of  throwing  curved  balls.  Mid-level  learning 
is  the  most  general  process.  We  can  readily  see  how  essential 
it  is  that  the  teacher  be  able  to  perform  in  a  masterful  way 
whatever  act  of  skill  she  attempts  to  teach.  To  develop 
similar  ability  in  her  pupils,  she  should  rely  chiefly  on  imi- 
tation, suggestion,  and  sympathy. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Reclassify  (if  necessary)  the  samples  of  behavior  called 
for  in  the  exercise  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter. 

2.  Can  a  balky  mule  be  truly  said  to  have  a  strong  will? 
In  what  terms  would  you  describe  him? 

3.  Why  do  we  expect  profound  wisdom  and  effective 
action  from  those  who  talk  little  and  are  rather  slow  to  act? 
"Even  a  fool,  when  he  holdeth  his  peace,  is  counted  wise." 
Explain. 

4.  Is  one  likely  to  find  the  right  vocation  by  a  process  of 
trial  and  error?    What  is  the  right  procedure? 

5.  How  could  a  boy  be  educated  into  a  good  tramp, 
sport,  or  miser,  if  such  were  desirable? 

6.  Should  most  fifth-grade  children  acquire  a  mastery  of 
fractions  by  a  high-level  or  a  mid-level  process? 


LEVELS  OF  LEARNING  137 

7.  "We  learn  to  do  by  doing."    Show  the  truth  and  the 
error  of  this  statement. 

8.  Make  a  list  of  ten  of  your  habits — bad  ones,  if  you 
have  so  many.    What  stimulus  usually  starts  them?    What 
supports  you  in  your  good  ones? 

9.  Observe  how  those  about  you  eat,  talk,  dress,  etc. 
Do  you  think  that  most  of  their  behavior  is  guided  by 
reason,  or  by  instinct  and  habit?    Observe  and  report  on 
some  child  in  this  respect. 

10.  What  has  heredity  to  do  with  determining  the  ease 
or  difficulty  with  which  a  habit  can  be  formed? 

11.  Can  manual  training  be  taught  by  lectures?    Why? 

12.  Show  how  low-level  memorizing  differs  from  high- 
level  memorizing. 

REFERENCES 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Every-day  Problems  in  Teaching,  Chs.  VI,  VII. 
Pyle,  William  Henry,  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology,  Chs. 
IV-LX. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education. 
Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Education,  Chs.  IV,  V,  VI. 
Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  Ch.  XXLX. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  LEARNING  PROCESS 

"How  well  he  does  the  work,  how  rapidly  he  improves,  depends, 
(i)  upon  how  strenuously  he  keeps  himself  applied  to  the  task,  (2) 
upon  the  learner,  the  mental  and  physical  condition  of  his  organism. 
He  must  keep  himself  in  perfect  condition  and  strenuously  applied  to 
the  work;  the  organism  does  all  the  rest."  * 

EXERCISE. — Write  an  account  of  how  you  felt  and  what 
you  thought  when  you  were  learning  something  which  has 
become  "  second  nature"  to  you,  such  as  skating,  swim- 
ming, dancing,  playing  a  musical  instrument,  curving  a  ball. 
This  should  begin  with  the  first  efforts  and  end  with  the 
finished  feat. 

Motives  for  learning. — If  we  wanted  nothing  we  should  do 
nothing.  We  all  work  most  happily  and  effectively  when 
we  are  getting  what  we  want.  Now  what  do  our  little 
workers  want?  What  can  we  suggest  to  them  as  an  incen- 
tive to  learning? 

We  have  already  approached  this  problem,  for  it  is 
closely  wrapped  up  with  the  discussion  of  interest  (see 
page  124)  and  of  instinct  (see  page  131).  We  can  hope  to 
win  anyone  to  action  by  appealing  to  his  nature,  his  inborn 
traits,  just  as  we  can  cause  powder  to  go  off  by  applying  the 
spark  its  constitution  demands.  One  works  to  beat  a  rival, 
another  for  gain,  another  for  love. 

It  is  impossible  to  take  up  here  all  the  special  and  peculiar 

*  William  Frederick  Book,  Psychology  of  Skill.  Used  by  permission 
of  the  author. 

138 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  139 

traits  that  distinguish  individual  children,  and  which  may 
even  furnish  their  strongest  motive  to  work  and  to  learn. 
Such  are  the  love  of  literature,  or  mechanics,  or  art.  Brown- 
ing loved  Byron  and  began  writing  poetry  almost  inces- 
santly at  the  age  of  six. 

The  teacher  must  deal  with  large  groups  of  pupils,  and  so 
must  often  appeal  to  those  traits  which  are  likely  to  be 
strong  in  all  children.  These  are  the  old  racial  traits  called 
instincts.  The  racial  traits  have  never  been  thoroughly  and 
satisfactorily  studied,  but  we  can  suggest  a  few  which  are 
usually  so  strong  as  to  furnish  a  kind  of  key  to  the  nature 
and  activity  of  the  average  child. 

Self-assertion. — To  some  extent,  nature  insists  that  each 
shall  take  care  of  himself.  In  the  uncultured  this  trait  may 
rule  from  birth  to  death.  It  is  especially  strong  in  the 
child.  His  native  tendency  is  to  snatch  his  food,  slap  his 
rival,  claim  all  as  "mine/'  resent  interference,  and  be  mon- 
arch of  all  he  surveys.  Herein  lies  the  power  of  praise, 
rivalry,  competition.  The  pupil  who  works  alone  is  less 
likely  to  strive  for  success.  This  fundamental  force  in 
personality  is  perhaps  the  strongest  to  which  we  can  appeal, 
and  proportionately  dangerous  if  abused.*  But  self- 
assertion  may  be  good  as  well  as  bad. 

Hero  worship. — Feeling  our  pettiness  and  our  lack  of 
power,  we  turn  to  some  one  who  is  stronger.  Children,  who 
are  all  weak  as  compared  with  adults,  cannot  well  do  other- 

*  The  picture  of  the  student  who  ruins  his  health  to  win  a  prize  is 
one  often  painted  for  us,  and  is  not  altogether  untruthful. 

Competition  between  groups  may  be  equally  strong  and  unreason- 
ing. The  principal  of  a  high  school  in  which  there  was  competition 
between  classes  in  the  matter  of  attendance,  found  a  group  of  boys 
about  to  haze  a  classmate  whose  proposed  absence  for  a  half  day 
threatened  to  mar  the  perfect  record  of  the  class  for  that  week. 


140          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

wise.  Your  hero  is  what  you  hope  to  be.  Through  him  you 
assert  yourself,*  achieving  what  you  cannot  achieve  alone. 
The  sanction  of  your  hero  means  that  you  are  on  the  way  to 
success.  You  will  probably  find,  in  your  own  early  educa- 
tion, that  one  of  your  strongest  motives  to  the  learning  of 
anything  was  the  fact  that  your  parent  or  teacher,  or  some 
one  else  to  whom  you  were  strongly  attached,  approved  that 
learning. 

Try  by  every  worthy  means  to  make  yourself  the  leader, 
the  hero — but  not  merely  the  sentimental  favorite — of  your 
group  of  pupils.  The  personal  influence  of  a  thoroughly 
good  teacher  is  not  likely  to  become  so  strong  as  to  make 
anyone  complain  about  it. 

Group  spirit. — As  the  child  wants  his  hero  to  succeed,  so 
he  wants  his  group,  his  kind,  his  "crowd,"  his  " bunch,"  to 
win;  for  that  means  his  own  triumph.  But  in  order  to 
triumph  with  his  group  he  must  keep  its  favor,  fall  in  with 
its  spirit  and  habits.  If  he  becomes  very  different  from  his 
fellows,  both  he  and  they  will  find  it  disagreeable.  He 
gravitates  to  the  group  level,  does  as  his  group  does.  If  bad 
conduct  and  failure  in  lessons  are  the  exception,  no  pupil 
likes  to  furnish  the  conspicuous  exception;  f  but  in  a  school 
where  low  standards  prevail,  the  good  pupil  is  not  likely  to 
follow  the  lonely  way  of  goodness  overlong.  It  requires 
everlasting  persistence  on  the  teacher's  part  to  keep  the 
group  level  high. 


*  Hero  worship  may  almost  be  called  indirect  self-assertion. 

f  Perhaps  this  is  not  true  of  a  few  bold  spirits  who  like  to  pose  as 
leaders,  start  a  rebellion,  and  set  new  standards  of  conduct  for  the 
group.  The  best  way  to  deal  with  them  is  not  merely  to  suppress 
them  by  punishment,  but  to  show  ourselves  better  leaders  than  they 
and  draw  their  forces  away  from  them.  A  would-be  leader  left  with- 
out followers  is  a  sorry  sight. 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  141 

Imitation. — Sing  into  a  harp  or  a  piano  and  it  will  sym- 
pathetically reproduce  your  tone.  Our  nervous  systems  are 
capable  of  a  somewhat  similar  sympathetic  response.  Per- 
form any  act  in  the  presence  of  a  pupil,  and  if  he  "has  it  in 
him"  to  do  that  deed,  he  is  likely  (other  things  being 
favorable)  to  attempt  it.  The  world  is  waiting  to  reward 
those  teachers  who  do  not  merely  stand  back  and  tell  pupils 
what  to  do,  but  who  are  able  to  say,  at  every  point,  "Follow 
me.  Do  as  I  do." 

Play. — This  hardly  needs  discussion.  That  the  play 
trait  is  strong  is  shown  by  the  vast  amount  of  time  most 
children  gladly  spend  in  play.  Whatever  can  be  put  in  the 
guise  of  a  game  arouses  ready  enthusiasm.* 

Curiosity. — As  said  before  (page  125),  we  are  all  curious 
by  nature.  "How  will  it  turn  out?"  and  "What  does  it 
mean?"  are  the  questions  that  carry  us  through  thousands 
of  pages  of  fiction  and  of  history,  and  give  zest  and  interest 
to  the  commonplace  affairs  of  everyday  existence.  They 
can  be  made  to  give  life  to  many  a  lesson. 

Constructiveness. — Perhaps  most  of  us  think  the  child  has 
more  Jestructiveness;  but  he  tears  down  largely  for  the 
purpose  of  satisfying  his  curiosity  and  enabling  him  to 
build  again.  His  building  may  be  homely  and  crude,  but 
it  is  his.  When  we  reflect  on  how  much  we  have  learned 
from  our  efforts  to  build  and  to  make,  we  can  see  why  we 
should  give  this  impulse  full  play  in  the  schoolroom. 

Other  motives. — The  above  are  some  of  the  oldest,  strong- 
est, and  most  common  traits  to  which  we  can  appeal  to 
arouse  interest  in  a  lesson  and  "get  up  steam"  for  its  learn- 
ing. But  the  open-eyed  teacher  will  discover  many  others, 

*  For  suggestions  along  this  line,  see  Natural  Education,  listed  in 
the  References  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 


142  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

such  as  the  rambling  impulse,  so  valuable  in  the  study 
of  geography  and  botany;  and  the  collecting  craze,  which 
may  lead  to  the  accumulation  of  all  sorts  of  specimens  for 
the  school  museum.  Moreover,  special  traits,  such  as  the 
love  for  nature  study  or  music,  are  sometimes  stronger  in 
individual  children  than  the  old  racial  traits,  the  instincts. 
Value  of  expressive  learning. — The  title  of  this  chapter, 
"The  Learning  Process,"  includes  much  that  has  already 
been  covered,  such  as  perceiving,  remembering,  imagining, 
and  thinking.  But  such  learning  was  previously  treated  as 
passive,  receptive.  In  discussing  "levels  of  learning"  and 
"the  learning  process,"  the  aim  is  to  lay  emphasis  on  the 
value  of  the  active,  expressive  side  of  the  work.  Learning  is 
sometimes  denned  as  "change  of  behavior,  due  to  expe- 
rience." If  this  is  right,  then  no  matter  how  much  one  has 
committed  to  memory,  we  can  hardly  say  he  has  really 
learned  anything  unless  it  makes  a  difference  in  the  way  he 
behaves. 

"Who  learns  and  learns,  but  acts  not  what  he  knows, 
Is  one  who  plows  and  plows,  but  never  sows." 

Expression  clears  up  our  ideas,  makes  them  exact,  gets 
them  jointed  together.  If  you  want  to  find  out  whether 
you  really  know  anything,  try  to  express  it.  "Reading 
maketh  a  full  man,  conversation  a  ready  man,  writing  an 
exact  man."  Most  of  us  are  too  intent  on  getting  "full- 
ness," too  little  on  being  exact.  Draw  accurately  or  make 
some  object,  such  as  a  kite,  and  see  how  much  you  must 
improve  your  knowledge  of  it  before  you  can  finish  the  task. 
Expression  shows  us  our  weak  points,  and  stings  us  into  the 
resolution  that  hereafter  there  shall  be  no  weak  points. 

Further,  it  is  only  by  expressing  ideas,  with  tongue,  pen, 
brush,  chisel  or  what  not,  that  mind  can  make  itself  known 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  143 

to  mind.  No  one  can  enter  his  neighbor's  head  and  catch  a 
thought;  he  must  wait  till  it  comes  out.  Whoever  cannot 
learn  to  express  himself  in  some  form  must  be  content  to 
remain  walled  in  from  the  world  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

When  any  form  of  expression,  such  as  playing  an  instru- 
ment, writing,  or  saying  the  multiplication  table  is  per- 
fected into  an  act  of  skill,  it  yields  especially  valuable 
results.  "Practice  makes  perfect,"  but  just  how?  We 
gain  (i)  in  accuracy;  (2)  in  speed;  (3)  in  ease  of  performance 
and  freedom  from  fatigue;  (4)  in  confidence  and  pleasure  in 
our  ability;  and  (5)  in  the  freeing  of  our  mind  for  other  mat- 
ters. The  practiced  act  almost  performs  itself. 

Schoolroom  practice  demands  the  teaching  of  many  acts 
of  skill.  We  should  understand  the  process  in  detail. 

The  acquisition  of  skill. — This  means,  of  course,  the  form- 
ing of  habits,  but  regarded  from  the  mechanical,  rather  than 
the  moral  standpoint.  Habit  forming  as  an  element  in  char- 
acter building  will  be  considered  later  (see  Chapter  XXVI). 

It  is  found  that  those  learn  fastest  and  most  easily  who 
for  some  reason  want  to  learn.  Accordingly  we  should  study 
our  learner  and  appeal  to  that  good  motive  which  is  most 
likely  to  stir  him  to  action.  Some  of  the  more  common 
motives  we  have  studied  in  this  chapter.  Perhaps  it  is  best 
if  we  can  make  the  pupil  feel  that  he  is  going  to  need  this 
learning, — skillful  penmanship,  good  reading,  or  what  not, 
— and  need  it  soon.* 


*Many,  probably  most  pupils  need  no  special  appeal;  they  will 
follow  the  teacher  without  question  wherever  she  leads,  so  long  as 
her  own  interest  holds  out.  But  we  should  know  how  to  "pull  the 
strings"  of  a  pupil's  desires,  in  cases  where  it  becomes  necessary.  On 
the  other  hand  the  little  rebel's  most  natural  question,  "What  good  is 
it?"  may  open  the  teacher's  eyes  to  the  fact  that  she  is  teaching  many 
things  which  really  are  of  no  value. 


144          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

We  should  then  follow  the  steps  outlined  below. 

1.  Study  the  learner,  and  choose  the  method,  low-,  mid-, 
or  high-level,  that  is  best  adapted  to  him.    The  animal  must 
learn  by  trial  and  error,  or  by  the  adaptation  of  some  in- 
stinct; young  children  and  stupid  grown  folks  learn  most 
readily  by  play  and  imitation;  very  bright  children  and 
intelligent  adult  learners  should  be  approached  through  the 
medium  of  ideas,  should  have  things  explained,  be  made  to 
understand  as  a  preliminary  to  the  acquisition  of  skill. 
Here  enters  real  teaching  as  compared  with  the  training 
which  alone  is  possible  on  the  two  lower  levels. 

2.  Make  the  process  clear  in  the  beginning,  and  see  that 
it  is  practiced  correctly.     It  is  easier  to  form  new  good 
habits  than  to  break  up  old  bad  habits.   If  the  act  of  skill  is  a 
complex  one,  such  as  writing,  the  teacher  should : 

(1)  Analyze  it  into  simple  parts. 

(2)  Teach  each  simple  part  thoroughly. 

(3)  Combine  these  simple  acts  into  one  whole  finished 
performance. 

Thus  in  penmanship,  we  must  teach :  (a)  bodily  position, 
(b)  arm  movement  from  left  to  right,  (c)  arm  movement  at 
right  angles  to  the  base  line,  (d)  paper  holding,  (e)  pen  hold- 
ing, etc.,  combining  these  simple  acts,  when  each  is  reason- 
ably well  learned,  into  the  finished  performance  of  writing. 

If  any  "hitches"  are  discovered,  concentrate  on  them  until 
they  are  mastered.  This  saves  much  monotonous  repetition 
of  the  whole  performance. 

3.  Keep  the  mind  of  the  learner  on  the  goal  to  be 
achieved.    This  goal  should  be  an  accurate  and  finished 
product.    It  is  found  that  those  learners  are  most  successful 
who  work  with  attention  at  high  pitch,  and  who  assume 
during  practice  the  "do-or-die"  attitude.    Such  fixation  of 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  145 

attention  keeps  one  from  becoming  " rattled."  Moreover 
it  helps  the  learner  to  avoid  two  ever-besetting  dangers: 
(i)  going  too  slowly  and  so  becoming  "set"  on  a  low  plane 
of  achievement;  and  (2)  going  too  fast  and  so  falling  into 
and  practicing  errors.  To  avoid  this  latter  danger  it  has 
been  proved  best  to  practice  most  of  the  time  for  accuracy , 
and  occasionally  only  for  speed.  The  speed  will  take  care 
of  itself,  for  the  most  part. 

It  is  noteworthy,  too,  that  this  centering  of  attention  on 
the  goal  promotes  the  unconscious,  apparently  accidental 
discovery  of  improved  methods,  which  can  later  be  con- 
sciously adopted.  * 

4.  Keep  up  the  learner's  self-confidence  and  general  good 
spirits  by  pointing  to  his  successes  and  otherwise,  especially 
during  times  of  slow  progress.  Too  intense  stimuli  impede 
the  learning  of  animals;  and  it  is  probable  that  caustic  criti- 
cism, sarcasm,  or  any  other  excessively  intense  stimulus 
impedes  the  progress  of  the  average  human  learner  also. 

At  the  beginning  of  practice,  learning  is  more  rapid  than 
at  any  later  period.  But  when  this  first  flush  of  conquest 
is  over,  it  is  quite  usual  for  curves  of  learning  (figure,  p.  146) 
to  show  "plateaus,"  long  periods  of  even  forty  to  fifty  days, 
during  which  there  is  no  progress  and  in  which  there  may 
even  be  retrogression,  in  spite  of  continued  practice.  Be- 
sides this  there  are  more  numerous  brief  periods  of  a  similar 
nature,  each  lasting  but  a  few  days;  and  one  must  even 
re-learn  each  day,  to  some  extent,  what  was  "learned"  the 
preceding  day.  Moreover,  the  more  closely  one  approaches 

*  Everyone,  if  he  keeps  watch,  will  find  himself  happening  upon  new 

and  better  ways  of  lacing  or  buttoning  shoes,  brushing  teeth,  combing 

hair,  and  the  like.     He  should  then  take  advantage  of  these  new 

tricks  and  deliberately  practice  them.    So  it  is  with  all  acts  of  skill. 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 10 


146          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  limit  of  achievement,  the  longer  and  harder  must  he 
work  for  each  added  unit  of  efficiency. 
The  learner  should  know  that  we  all  have  to  pull  against 


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Curve  showing  rnte  of  Improvement  In  typewriting.  Figures  on  the  horizontal  axis  in- 
dicate number  01  day*  of  practice;  those  on  the  verticul  tixis  show  number  of  strokes  per 
ten-minute  period.  Notice  the  long  "  platcuus."  (From  Psychology  of  Skill,  by  W.  F.  Book.) 

such  discouragements,  and  if  he  cannot  avoid  them,  —  some 
can  do  so  in  part,  largely  by  keeping  their  nerves  in  fine 
condition,  —  he  should  be  encouraged  to  endure  for  a  time, 
for  salvation  always  appears  in  the  form  of  another  rapid 
rise  in  the  curve  at  the  end  of  the  plateau. 

"The  feelings  were  a  perfect  index  of  the  learner's  psycho- 
physical  efficiency  and  of  how  his  attention  was  working," 
says  one  experimenter,  "and  always  had  a  stimulating  or 
retarding  effect  on  every  part  of  the  work."  Also,  "Close 
attention  to  the  work,  success,  improvement,  and  a  pleasur- 
able feeling  tone  always  went  together."  *  Of  course,  as 
the  author  remarks,  the  feeling  may  have  come  from  the 
success,  or  the  success  from  the  feeling,  or  both  from  some- 
thing else;  but  it  is  very  likely  that  good  feeling  promotes 
efficient  learning. 

*  William  Frederick  Book,  Psychology  of  Skill,  pp.  177,  73.  Used 
by  permission  of  the  author. 


•nil-;  U-:AKNIN<;  I'KOCKSS  147 

5.  Take  every  advantage  of  the  good  days,  and  make 
allowance  for  the  bad  ones.  Intense  effort  at  favorable 
times  will  scoop  out  new  and  more  effective  nerve  channels* 
through  which  t.he  currents  will  1  hereafter  flow  with  <M  ,<•. 
Whoever  by  a  master  effort  can  excel  himself  is  likely  to 
find  such  excellence  a  permanent  acquisition.  The  rate  of 
learning  must  be  suited  to  subjective  and  objective  condi- 
tions. On  bad  days  the  rate  of  performance  may  sink  to 
one  half  the  best  record,  or  even  lower,  and  it  is  unwise  to 

lorn-  matters:  "On  a  had  day  when  spontaneous  attention 
is  relaxed  it  is  profitable  to  drop  down  to  a  lower  plane  of 
work,  one  sufficiently  low  for  the  work  to  be  done  correctly. 
Only  on  the  good  days  is  it  profitable  for  the  learner  to 
'sprint'  or  try  hard  to  push  himself  onto  a  higher  plane  of 
work."  * 

As  soon  as  the  pupil  can  profit  by  the  knowledge,  teach 
him  the  art  of  self-examination  and  self-direction.  In 
addition  to  the  general  art  of  self-teaching,  there  arc  many 
personal  "  tricks"  which  will  add  much  to  the  pleasure  and 
profit  of  learning. 

The  importance  of  rest,  recreation,  good  hygiene  gener- 
ally is  easily  apparent.  To  sum  up  in  the  words  of  Book:  f 
"How  well  he  does  the  work,  how  rapidly  he  improves, 
depends,  (i)  upon  how  strenuously  he  keeps  himself  applied 
to  the  task;  (2)  upon  the  learner,  the  mental  and  physical 
condition  of  his  organism.  He  must  keep  himself  in  perfect 
condition  and  strenuously  applied  lo  the  work;  f.lx:  organism 

does  all  the  rest.  He  needs  but  consciously  to  lay  hold  of 
and  make  proper  use  of  the  adaptations  that  are  uncon- 
sciously fallen  into,  the  habits  and  associations  formed. 

*W.  F.  Book:  op.  cti.,  p.  175. 

t  Op.  cit.,  p.  181.    Uied  by  pcrmiggion  of  the  author. 


148  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

All  this  suggests  that  if  one  wants  to  improve  at  the  most 
rapid  rate,  he  must  work  when  he  can  feei  well  and  suc- 
ceed, then  lounge  and  wait  until  it  is  again  profitable  to 
work.  It  is  when  all  the  conditions  are  favorable  that  the 
forward  steps  or  new  adaptations  in  learning  are  made. 
Whether  the  older  associations  are  at  such  a  time  also  more 
rapidly  perfected,  or  whether  monotonous  practice  will 
answer  as  well  in  stimulating  their  growth,  we  cannot  say.'' 

Formal  discipline :  educational  transfer. — In  the  gymna- 
sium, a  student  can  develop  strength  and  skill  which  he 
can  then  put  to  use  in  many  different  directions.  He  gains 
such  development  through  a  course  of  a  few  general  exer- 
cises. Can  there  not  be  a  mental  gymnasium?  Formal 
discipline  is  the  exercising  of  the  mind  on  a  few  chosen 
branches,  with  the  object  of  arousing  and  developing, 
through  them,  every  mental  faculty. 

There  is  much  truth  in  this  doctrine,  but  not  so  much  as 
our  forefathers  in  education  supposed.  They  expected  to 
develop  "the"  reason  through  mathematics,  "the"  imagi- 
nation through  the  classics,  "the"  memory  through  history. 
But  the  psychologist  fails  to  find  any  such  general  faculty 
as  "the"  memory,  for  example.  Each  of  us  has  a  group  of 
special  memories,  a  good  memory  for  figures,  a  poor  one  for 
faces,  and  so  on;  and  history  reaches  but  one  of  these  special 
memories  mainly,  the  memory  for  history. 

Still,  the  reading  of  Latin  undoubtedly  makes  one  more 
skillful  in  reading  French.  Such  carrying  over  of  efficiency 
from  one  kind  of  performance  to  another  is  known  as  "edu- 
cational transfer,"  or  "transfer  of  training." 

Many  of  the  problems  involved  in  formal  discipline  and 
educational  transfer  are  as  yet  unsolved.  It  seems  evident 
that  learning  to  swim  will  not  teach  one  to  play  a  piano. 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  149 

Yet  when  the  first  typewriter  was  made  the  manufacturers 
advertised  for  an  operator  who  could  play  the  piano.  This 
points  to  the  first  method  of  transfer,  by  (i)  identical  ele- 
ments: pressing  typewriter  keys  is  much  like  striking  piano 
keys;  Latin  words  and  French  words  are  similar.  It  is 
probably  true  also  that  transfer  is  aided  by  (2)  ideals. 
Neatness  in  language  work  may  develop  an  ideal  of  neatness 
which  affects  all  written  work,  provided  this  general  ideal  of 
neatness  is  deliberately  encouraged  in  the  pupils  during  the 
language  teaching.  Here  we  seem  to  appeal  to  a  higher 
brain  center  which  controls  many  lower  centers.  There 
is,  then,  such  a  thing  as  transfer,  but  no  such  thing  as  com- 
plete, hundred  per  cent  transfer.  Very  likely  the  per  cent 
of  transfer  increases  as  we  rise  from  low-level  through  mid- 
level  to  high-level  learning,  and  one  would  expect  it  to  be 
affected  greatly  by  the  inborn  abilities  of  the  learner;  but 
experiment  has  not  determined  these  points. 

Thorndike  is  right  in  his  contentions  that  (i)  "it  is  ex- 
tremely unsafe  to  teach  anything  simply  because  of  its 
supposed  strengthening  of  attention  or  memory  or  reason- 
ing ability  or  any  other  mental  power;  when  a  teacher  can 
give  no  other  reason  for  a  certain  lesson  or  method  of  teach- 
ing than  its  value  as  discipline,  the  lesson  or  method  should 
be  changed."  Also,  (2)  "that  intelligence  and  care  will  be 
necessary  to  secure  from  any  subject  what  disciplinary 
value  it  does  have;  we  cannot  expect  that  the  mere  fact  that 
a  certain  subject  is  taught  somehow  will  surely  result  in 
securing  the  disciplinary  value  which  it  may  have  when 
taught  properly."  * 

Fatigue. — In  the  first  place  we  must  distinguish  between 

*  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Principles  of  Teaching,  pp.  242,  243.  Used 
by  permission  of  the  author. 


150          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

being  fatigued  and  feeling  tired.  Fatigue  is  a  real  lack  of 
mental  or  muscular  energy.  The  powder  is  all  exploded. 
Tiredness  is  a  feeling  which  usually  accompanies  such  lack 
of  energy,  but  which  may  be  present  when  one  is  not  fa- 
tigued. There  is  powder  enough,  but  we  feel  indisposed  to 
apply  the  spark.  One  who  observes  us  can  often  judge, 
better  than  we  ourselves  can  tell  from  our  feelings,  whether 
we  are  really  fatigued.  The  teacher  may  know,  better 
than  do  her  pupils,  whether  or  not  they  really  need  rest. 

Dr.  D.  M.  Taylor's  description  of  the  fatigued  child  is 
instructive.  The  picture  of  a  fatigued  child,  he  says,  is 
characteristic — the  tired,  drawn  look,  the  clumsy  move- 
ments, his  listless  conversation,  his  aversion  to  exert  him- 
self, and  his  readiness  to  fall  asleep.  When  the  condition 
is  becoming  a  chronic  state  another  set  of  signs  begin  to 
manifest  themselves,  and  the  morning  finds  him  sleepy  and 
languid,  his  eyes  dull,  his  pupils  large,  and  his  expression 
wearied.  He  drags  himself  to  school,  without  alertness, 
his  walk  is  "tottery"  and  awkward.  In  school  he  lacks 
attention  and  responds  feebly,  his  gaze  wanders,  he  is 
slouching  in  attitude,  and  he  becomes  peevish.  The  same 
causes  continuing  to  act,  matters  become  aggravated,  and 
he  arrives  at  the  borderland  of  actual  disease.  He  is  pale 
and  pinched,  he  suffers  from  headache,  there  is  muscular 
twitching  or  incoordination,  and  he  is  susceptible  to  colds 
and  to  infectious  disease;  stomach  troubles  ensue,  with  loss 
of  sleep,  and  exhausting  dreams.* 

The  stages  of  fatigue  are  fairly  well  marked.  In  the 
first  stage,  quantity  of  work  increases,  but  quality  decreases ; 
next,  quantity  also  falls;  finally  comes  exhaustion,  or  else  a 
condition  called  fatigue-fever.  In  fatigue- fever,  the  desper- 

*  Quoted  by  Rusk,  p.  207.     See  References  at  close  of  chapter. 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  151' 

ation  of  the  worker  causes  him  to  throw  off  an  increased 
quantity  of  work;  but  the  quality  of  it  is  poor,  and  his  own 
physical  condition  is  shown  by  his  weak,  rapid  pulse,  quick 
and  shallow  breathing,  and  uncertain  movements. 

Common  sense  is  borne  out  by  the  finding  that  what- 
ever has  been  reduced  to  automatism  is  comparatively 
unfatiguing;  that  work  not  suited  to  our  natural  powers, 
or  which  is  very  disagreeable  to  our  inclinations,  fatigues  us 
rapidly;  that  physical  work  causes  mental  fatigue;  that 
even  light  work,  when  our  energies  are  low,  may  be  more 
injurious  than  heavy  work  when  energy  abounds;  that  the 
failure  of  memory  and  attention  are  among  the  first  effects 
of  mental  fatigue. 

Studies  of  fatigue  indicate,  with  regard  to  school  pro- 
grams, that  it  would  probably  be  wise  to  take  two  half 
holidays,  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons,  instead 
of  a  whole  holiday  on  Saturday;  that  if  afternoon  sessions 
are  retained  the  midday  intermission  should  be  as  long  as 
possible;  that  the  energy  of  the  child  is  highest  in  the  morn- 
ing, decreases  until  noon,  rises  to  its  second  highest  point 
some  three  hours  after  the  noon  meal,  and  then  gradually 
ebbs  to  its  lowest.  The  school  subjects,  arranged  in  the 
order  of  their  fatiguing  power,  are  arithmetic  (most  fatigu- 
ing), gymnastics,  music,  language  subjects,  realistic  con- 
crete subjects,  and  work  involving  the  use  of  tools  and  shop 
materials.  The  pupils  who  are  most  susceptible  to  fatigue 
are  the  mentally  and  physically  backward.  Although 
liability  to  fatigue  decreases  with  age,  so  that  longer  in- 
struction periods  may  safely  be  used  in  higher  grades, 
yet  it  is  in  the  higher  schools  that  most  cases  of  fatigue  in- 
jury have  been  found.  William  Henry  Pyle  says  in  his 
Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology  that  as  far  as  any  im- 


'152  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

provement  is  concerned,  drill  work  should  stop  short  of 
considerable  fatigue,  in  fact  should  stop  as  soon  as  fatigue 
is  noticeable;  and  that  as  far  as  economy  of  work  is  con- 
cerned, there  is  little  use  in  trying  to  learn  after  fatigue  has 
become  considerable. 

Fatigue  among  teachers  has  received  little  attention. 
Very  likely  most  of  us  do  not  rest  with  sufficient  frequency, 
brevity,  and  abandon.  Very  likely  frequent  short  rests  and 
vacations,  surrendered  to  whole-hearted  recreation,  would 
obviate  the  necessity  for  long  interruptions  in  our  work. 
But  if  as  teachers  and  pupils  we  daily  recover  from  each 
day's  work,  we  have  the  problem  solved  in  a  practical  way 
at  least. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Learn  the  following:  (a)  Place  the  tip  of  your  right 
thumb  against  the  tip  of  your  left  forefinger,     (b)  Above 
this  pair,  place  the  tip  of  your  left  thumb  against  the  tip 
of  your  right  forefinger,    (c)  Separate  the  pair  first  joined, 
bring  them  above  the  second  pair,  and  repeat  (a),     (d) 
Separate  the  second  pair,  bring  them  above  the  other  two, 
and  rejoin  them. 

Repeat  the  whole  process  until  you  can  easily  keep  it 
going  at  a  good  rate  of  speed. 

Recall  your  feelings  as  you  learned  it. 

2.  Perform  the  above  exercise  rapidly  before  a  group  of 
children  or  adults  and  ask  them  to  do  it.    Notice  the  awk- 
ward attempts,  with  here  and  there  a  success.     Then, 
show  them  carefully,  one  step  at  a  time,  giving  clear  direc- 
tions, somewhat  as  above.    Do  they  catch  the  idea? 

What  does  the  exercise  show? 

3.  We  teachers  forget  our  old  struggles  to  learn,  and  so 
grow  impatient  at  the  slowness  of  our  pupils.    If  you  want 
to  appreciate  their  struggles,  try  buttoning  buttons  or 


THE  LEARNING  PROCESS  153 

writing,  with  the  hand  you  do  not  usually  use.    Even  this 
is  less  difficult  than  learning  something  thoroughly  new. 

4.  Try  to  discern  the  motives  of  those  about  you,  espe- 
cially children :  why  do  they  do  what  they  do?   Test  whether 
the  motives  listed  in  this  chapter  are  really  the  most  im- 
portant. 

5.  Tell  how  you  would  form  in  your  pupils  the  habit  of 
doing  neatly  the  work  to  be  handed  in  to  you;  of  maintain- 
ing quiet  during  the  study  period;  of  coming  to  school  on 
time.    On  what  instincts  could  you  base  these  habits? 

6.  Is  it  mere  blind  practice  that  " makes  perfect "?    What 
does?    Show  how  this  involves  levels  of  learning. 

7.  What  instincts  or  other  traits  can  we  take  advantage 
of  to  help  a  child  to  learn  to  read  and  write? 

8.  Would  you  advise  a  high-school  student  to  study 
Latin  and  Greek  because  of  their  "  general  disciplinary- 
value"?    Why? 

9.  Recall  your  own  school  days.    Make  a  list  of  the 
chief  motives  that  led  you  to  learn.    Do  you  think  your 
chief  motives  were  those  of  your  classmates  also? 

10.  One  reason  why  people  swear  and  use  slang  is  because 
they  have  never  learned  to  express  themselves  easily  and 
freely  in  any  other  way.    Do  you  believe  this?    Discuss  it. 
What  other  motives  probably  operate  in  such  cases? 

11.  If  mathematics  develops  a  general  power  of  reason- 
ing, why  do  we  not  choose  expert  mathematicians  for  all 
responsible  positions? 

12.  Study  yourself  a  bit  when  you  are  fatigued:  note  the 
peculiar  pull  of  the  mouth  muscles  when  you  try  to  smile, 
the  postures  you  naturally  take,  how  you  walk,  the  appear- 
ance of  your  face  in  the  glass,  especially  the  expression  of 
the  eye;  notice  the  effect  of  fatigue  on  your  temper,  and 
on  your  work.    Observe  others,  especially  children,  and  try 
to  discover  when  they  are  fatigued.    Do  you  find  them 
quick  to  admit  it? 


154  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

REFERENCES 

Book,  William  Frederick,  Psychology  of  Skill,  etc. 
Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  Chs.  X,  XI,  XVII. 
Colvin,  Stephen  S.heldon,  The  Learning  Process. 
Pyle,  William  Henry,  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology,  Ch. 
XV. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education. 

S toner,  Winifred  Sackville,  Natural  Education. 

Swift,  E.  J.,  Mind  in  the  Making. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Principles  of  Teaching,  Ch.  XV. 


PART  THREE 
METHOD  AS  RELATED  TO  THE  TEACHER 


CHAPTER  XIV 

KINDS  OF  LESSON  AND  HOW  TO  TEACH  THEM 

"The  result  is  that  independence  and  self-reliance,  either  of  reason- 
ing or  observation,  and  the  spontaneous  love  of  nature  which  these 
spring  from  and  engender,  are  not  encouraged  by  the  school,  and  in 
some  cases  are  actually  blighted  by  its  influence.  Secondhand  knowl- 
edge is  peddled  out  by  the  teacher  in  the  shape  of  laboratory  direc- 
tions, in  lectures,  through  a  textbook,  or  in  catechetical  form.  The 
appeal  for  facts  is  not  made  to  nature  but  to  the  teacher,  who,  when  he 
gets  as  far  as  asking  the  pupil  what  he  thinks,  frequently  furnishes  the 
conclusion  ready-made  by  telling  him  whether  he  is  right  or  wrong. 
In  such  conditions,  instead  of  studying  nature  the  pupil  is  studying,  in 
stupid  and  roundabout  fashion,  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  and  is  not 
being  helped  to  investigate  for  himself.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  facts 
are  sufficiently  convincing,  the  pupil  does  not  ask  the  teacher  whether 
the  idea  is  right  or  wrong.* 

EXERCISES. — Before  reading  this  chapter,  visit  several 
classes  and  record  the  various  purposes  which  you  conclude 
the  teachers  are  trying  to  attain,  such  as  the  acquisition  of 
an  act  of  skill,  the  ability  to  think,  etc.  Try  to  draw  up  a 
list  of  all  possible  kinds  of  lesson. 

Review  Chapters  VII,  IX,  X. 

Kinds  of  lesson. — We  must  let  the  children  show  us  how 
to  teach.  If  we  want  to  know  all  the  kinds  of  lessons  to  be 
taught,  we  must  ask  how  many  kinds  the  pupil  can  learn. 
This  we  can  discover  by  a  glance  at  his  mental  and  bodily 
abilities. 

*  Colin  A.  Scott,  Social  Education.  Used  by  permission  of  Ginn 
and  Company,  publishers. 


158  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Abilities  Lessons 

To  perceive     >  Lesson  for  Information 

To  remember  ) 

To  imagine      )  Lesson  for  Thought 

To  think          > 

To  feel  Lesson  for  Appreciation 

To  acquire  skill  (men-  )  Legsonfor  Skm 
tal  or  muscular)          ) 

Whenever  a  child  is  learning,  he  is  using  some  one  (or 
more)  of  these  abilities;  and  as  we  have  studied  them,  we 
already  know  a  great  deal  about  the  lessons  based  on  them. 
The  first  two  kinds  of  lesson  suggest  our  discussion  of  the 
mind  as  a  factory.  When  a  child  perceives  and  remembers, 
he  is  collecting  and  storing  mental  material;  when  he 
imagines  and  thinks,  he  is  combining  such  material.  The 
lesson  for  appreciation  aims  to  educate  the  feelings.  The 
lesson  for  skill  explains  itself.* 

THE  LESSON  FOR  INFORMATION 

Purpose  and  value. — The  purpose  of  the  information 
lesson  is  to  gather  and  store  mental  material.  Sometimes 
this  is  done  for  pure  pleasure.  One  is  glad  to  learn  the 
amazing  structure  of  a  snowflake,  even  if  he  never  makes 

*  All  four  kinds  of  lesson  may  appear  in  a  single  class  exercise.  For 
example,  during  a  period  in  the  manual-training  shop  pupils  may 
(i)  acquire  information  about  the  saw;  (2)  think  out  the  problem  of 
why  its  teeth  are  shaped  as  they  are;  (3)  learn  to  appreciate  what  this 
tool  has  done  and  is  doing  for  us;  and  (4)  practice  for  skill  in  the  use  of 
the  saw. 

But  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  it  is  well  that  we  here  consider  each 
kind  of  lesson  separately. 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  159 

practical  use  of  the  knowledge.  But  pupils  are  apt  to  pick 
up  such  pleasure  knowledge  for  themselves,  if  they  are  given 
the  chance.  Whatever  they  acquire  with  effort  should  be 
taught  from  the  standpoint  of  future  use.  We  should  not 
try  to  make  walking  encyclopedias  of  our  pupils.  The 
aim  of  the  information  lesson  is  to  furnish  the  most  valuable 
facts  which  are  likely  to  be  used,  and  for  the  most  part  used 
soon,  for  some  large  purpose,  such  as  thinking,  or  the  shap- 
ing of  an  act  of  skill,  or  the  guiding  of  practical  conduct, 
perhaps  caring  for  health. 

The  value  of  mere  information  is  commonly  overesti- 
mated. In  the  vulgar  eye  information  is  education.  But 
it  is  often  the  backwoods  philosopher  who  reads  everything, 
knows  everything,  and  does  nothing.  It  is  not  what  the 
factory  takes  in,  but  what  it  turns  out  that  gives  it  value. 
The  pupil  cannot  stock  his  mental  storeroom  once  for  all. 
He  must  learn  to  gather  facts  as  he  goes  along,  and  to  gather 
them  in  the  light  of  need.  Instead  of  fact  stuffing,  he  should 
acquire  locative  knowledge,  that  is,  knowledge  of  where  facts 
are  to  be  found,  in  books  of  reference,  among,  people,  or  in 
the  natural  world,  so  he  can  find  his  material  when  he  wants 
it.  No  good  carpenter  carries  a  lumber  pile  on  his  back. 

The  teacher,  too,  may  make  the  mistake  of  accepting 
from  pupils  mere  information,  or  the  blind  repetition  of 
book  language,  as  sure  evidence  of  thought  or  of  the  posses- 
sion of  skill.  Judged  by  this  standard,  phonographs  and 
parrots  are  well  on  the  way  toward  meriting  a  diploma! 
One  may  practice  so  mechanically  the  habit  of  repeating  or 
copying,  that  he  has  no  clear  idea  of  what  he  has  repeated  or 
copied.  We  can  probe  such  a  case  by  cross-questions,  or 
by  the  test  of  action,  requiring  the  pupil  to  tell  or  show  how 
to  apply  his  knowledge. 


160  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

What  should  be  committed  to  memory? — In  answering 
this  question,  we  must  keep  clearly  in  mind  what  we  commit 
to  memory  for.  The  pupil  should  not  make  a  mere  garret  of 
his  mind  by  stowing  it  full  of  odds  and  ends  that  he  may 
want  to  use  sometime.  He  should  learn  that  which  is  use- 
ful— which  is  most  useful. 

What  facts  from  our  elementary  education  do  we  adults 
retain  and  use?  The  spelling  of  common  words,  a  half 
dozen  language  rules,  a  few  arithmetical  principles,  with 
addition  and  multiplication  tables,  a  very  limited  number 
of  dates  in  history,  names  of  rivers,  cities,  etc.,  in  geography, 
with  the  major  facts  of  physiology  and  hygiene.  These  are 
the  chief  things — and  the  list  is  not  long. 

"But  we  actually  make  use  of  many  principles,  laws  and 
facts  not  found  in  this  brief  list,  even  though  we  do  not 
hold  them  in  memory  in  verbal  form."  Of  course,  and  this 
seems  to  show  that  our  children  should  form  more  habits  and 
do  less  memorizing  verbatim.  This  means  more  practice 
in  doing  and  less  time  spent  in  committing  and  repeating. 

Method  ia  the  information  lesson. — We  have  already 
learned  (see  Chapter  VII)  that  the  most  impressive  way  of 
gaining  information  is  to  "get  at  the  real  object  whenever 
possible."  We  have  found  that  some  of  our  experience,  as 
that  of  colors,  tones,  and  other  sense  impressions,  must  be 
gotten  in  this  direct  way  if  it  is  gotten  at  all. 

If  we  cannot  get  at  the  real  object  we  resort  to  the  most 
realistic  substitute  for  it,  a  model,  picture,  map,  diagram,  or 
the  like.  The  substitute  may  be  better  than  the  real  ob- 
ject, if  the  object  is  very  great,  very  small,  or  very  complex. 
A  model  of  the  solar  system  or  a  picture  of  a  blood  corpus- 
cle may  give  more  and  clearer  information  than  a  pupil 
can  obtain  from  the  originals. 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  161 

Reading  and  the  lecture  *  furnish  quick  ways  of  massing 
what  we  may  call  secondhand  information.  We  must  see 
to  it  that  the  learner  has  a  sufficient  apperceptive  basis  for 
the  understanding  of  what  is  heard  or  read;  and  he  should 
do  something  from  time  to  time  to  show  that  the  book  or  the 
lecture  is  not  soothing  him  to  sleep  instead  of  arousing  him 
to  action. 

Whenever  thorough,  scientific  information  is  wanted,  it 
is  well  to  (i)  analyze  the  object  of  study,  (2)  note  the  rela- 
tions of  its  parts  to  each  other,  and  (3)  synthesize,  recon- 
struct it.f 

THE   LESSON  FOR  THOUGHT 

Follow  scientific  method. — Since  the  scientific  spirit  and 
ways  of  working  have  won  for  man  his  most  striking  suc- 
cesses (see  Chapter  I),  we  should  encourage  this  spirit  and 
method  among  our  pupils.  The  little  truth  seeker  in  the 
schoolroom  and  the  great  scientist  in  his  laboratory  should 
follow  the  same  steps;  but  the  scientist  takes  each  step 
consciously  and  deliberately,  while  the  pupil  may  merely 
imitate  his  teacher  and  develop  what  we  may  call  the  habit 
of  correct  and  careful  thought.  Deliberate,  independent 
thinking  is  likely  to  come  late,  with  maturity. 

Let  us  review  the  steps  in  scientific  method  and  see  how 
our  lessons  correspond  with  them. 

{i.  Getting  a  definite  question  to 
answer 
2.  Collecting  facts 

*  See  p.  174  for  a  discussion  of  the  lecture  method, 
f  Analysis  and  synthesis  are  discussed  further  in  the  following 
chapter  (Chapter  XV). 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — n 


162  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

3.  Generalizing 

4.  Forming  hypotheses 

£     rr-i        i  ,  5-  Testing  to  find  the  true  hy- 

Lesson  for  Thought  °  . 6 .  J 

pothesis 

6.  Using  the  new  truth  as  a  basis 
for  further  reasoning 

It  appears  that  we  are  not  really  ready  to  solve  any  problem 
until  we  have  it  stated  definitely,  and  have  gathered  a 
respectable  array  of  facts  that  bear  on  it.* 

Generalizing  is  an  everyday  necessity;  no  one  cares  to 
handle  straws,  or  eggs,  or  facts,  one  at  a  time.  We  bale  our 
straw,  crate  our  eggs,  sum  up  a  thousand  scattered  facts  in  a 
single  general  statement.  Because  of  the  large  business  we 
do  with  facts,  some  such  wholesale  method  is  forced  upon 
us.  Consequently  we  fall  into  the  habit  of  it;  and  again, 
consequently,  we  are  likely  to  make  many  general  state- 
ments that  are  loose,  reckless,  and  untrue. 

Children  do  this  almost  daily.  The  little  Republican 
concludes  that  "all  Democrats  are  dangerous."  Another 
may  maintain  that  curly-haired  men  are  dishonest,  or  that 
"snakes  poison  you," — some  do, — or  that  the  northern 
lights  cause  war.  This  childish  habit  comes  partly  from 
imitating  elders,  partly  from  the  narrowness  of  a  very 
limited  experience.  We  must  widen  the  experience,  and 
break  up  the  habit  by  forming  the  better  one  of  being  care- 
ful about  what  we  say. 

A  hypothesis  is  an  attempted  answer  to  the  "definite 
question"  with  which  we  start.  Most  of  what  has  been 

*  How  often  do  we  argue  at  length,  only  to  find,  at  the  end,  that  we 
and  our  opponents  have  been  talking  about  different  propositions! 
We  should  state  the  question  before  we  debate  it.  Sometimes,  too,  we 
plunge  into  a  discussion  with  more  feeling  than  fact  to  support  us. 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  163 

said  of  generalization  holds  also  of  hypothesis;  for  most 
hypotheses  are  generalizations.  Children,  like  adults, 
dodge  the  facts  and  jump  at  conclusions.  A  better  way 
would  be  to  jump  at  the  facts  and  dodge  conclusions  for  a 
time.  School  your  pupils  in  testing  out  their  theories  to  the 
limit  of  their  knowledge.  "The  earth  is  flat."  Good:  hold 
to  your  opinion  if  you  can;  but  explain  why  a  ship  disap- 
pears hull  first  as  it  goes  out  to  sea,  and  why  the  earth's 
shadow  on  the  moon  is  round.* 

Devices  for  stimulating  thought. — The  good  old-fashioned 
debate-is  always  in  order.  Many  a  topic  divides  a  class 
into  two  camps,  and  it  is  well  to  let  it  stay  divided  for  a 
time,  if  the  subject  is  one  that  will  not  engender  bad  feeling. 
The  teacher,  with  serious  face,  may  suggest  some  false  but  . 
common  statement  and  let  the  class  point  out  and  prove 
its  error.  He  should  keep  the  argument  orderly  and  pro- 
gressive, curbing  the  "smarty"  and  encouraging  the  timid. 

Questions  may  be  given  out,  or  if  they  appear  incidentally 
in  the  lesson,  reserved,  with  a  challenge  to  find  the  answer 
overnight.  At  any  time,  following  the  grinding  out  of  a 
grist  of  facts,  pupils  may  be  urged  to  bag  their  grist  by 

*  At  this  point,  it  is  easy  to  distinguish  (if  anyone  wishes  to)  be- 
tween inductive  and  deductive  reasoning.  The  first  four  steps  in 
scientific  method  as  outlined  are  inductive.  Induction  is  the  pro- 
cedure from  particular  facts  to  a  general  truth.  A  dies,  B  dies,  C  dies, 
etc.  Hence  the  general  truth,  "All  men  are  mortal."  Deduction  is  the 
application  of  a  generalization  to  particular  facts.  "All  men  are 
mortal."  Well,  then,  I  know  what  will  happen,  some  day,  to  Jones, 
Smith,  and  the  rest  of  my  neighbors. 

But  if  we  are  in  danger  of  falling  we  do  not  argue  as  to  whether  we 
shall  stand  on  our  feet  or  hang  by  our  hands;  the  essential  thing  is  that 
we  have  reliable  support  of  some  kind.  So  the  essential  thing  is  not  to 
discriminate  nicely  between  induction  and  deduction,  but  to  know 
that  our  statement  has  reliable  support  of  some  kind. 

It  is  desirable  that  all  teachers  have  training  in  logic,  and  in  prac- 
tical, friendly  argument. 


164          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

including  all  in  a  single  generalization.  Numerous  problems 
from  daily  life  will  draw  out  many  hypotheses.  Why  do 
birds  come  back  in  the  spring?  Why  do  leaves  turn  color? 
Why  do  bubbles  go  up  if  you  attach  the  bubble  blower  to 
the  gas  jet?  LPupils  persist  most  doggedly  on  the  trail  of 
/  those  questions  which  are  not  artificially  made  by  the 

V     teacher,  but  which  bear  on  their  daily  life,  interests,  and 
occupations^ 

In  every  critical  case  we  must  compel  the  pupil  to  back 
up  his  assertions,  make  him  understand  that  noise,  bluster, 
positiveness,  will  not  take  the  place  of  fact.  Socrates  was 
right.  That  man  is  most  eloquent  who  tells  the  plain  truth. 
There  are  three  test  questions  which  it  is  well  to  apply  to 

/  every  important  statement:  i.  Just  what  does  this  mean? 
1   2.  Is  it  true?    3.  How  do  I  know? 


J2.  Isjtjruc 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Do  you  not  think   the   "Lesson  for  Imagination" 
should  receive  special  treatment?    If  so,  devise  some  ex- 
ercises for  such  lessons. 

2.  Under  what  circumstances  should  the  material  to  be 
committed  to  memory  be  selected  by  the  pupil? 

3.  Which  would  you  prefer  to  have  a  pupil  do  in  any 
given  lesson,  think  vigorously  and  reach  a  false  conclusion, 
or  proceed  lackadaisically  and  chance  upon  a  correct  re- 
sult?    Why? 

4.  Outline  some  thought  problems  that  can  be  solved  by  a 
fifth  or  sixth  grade. 

5.  In  a  certain  school  each  pupil  was  in  turn  permitted 
to  find  and  name  a  city  on  the  map, — it  was  usually  a  small 
town, — after  which  the  others  hunted  till  they  found  it. 
Criticize  this. 

6.  A  class  commits  to  memory  thoroughly  many  facts 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  165 

and  definitions;  the  superintendent  gives  a  test  requiring 
considerable  thought;  the  class  fails.    Who  is  to  blame? 

7.  Criticize  the  lessons  for  information  and  for  thought 
that  were  taught  you  in  your  elementary  school  days. 

8.  It  was  once  thought  that  pupils  should  spend  their 
early  years  collecting  and  memorizing  facts,  and   their 
later  years  in  thinking,  based  on  those  facts.    Is  this  true? 
If  not,  what  is  true? 

9.  Outline  (i)  an  information  lesson  on  "  Slavery  in  the 
United  States/'  and  (2)  a  lesson  for  thought  on  the  same 
topic.    How  do  they  differ?     In  which  grade  could  each  be 
given  appropriately? 

10.  Recall,  if  you  can,  some  false  generalizations,  from 
your  childhood  days.    How  came  you  by  them? 

n.  If  a  thoughtful  mind  is  like  a  running  factory,  a  mind 
that  is  merely  stocked  with  information  is  like  a  storehouse, 
where  nothing  moves,  and  the  owner  can  take  out  only 
what  he  put  in. 

1.  Just  what  does  this  statement  mean? 

2.  Is  it  true? 

3.  How  do  you  know? 

12.  State  some  definite  problem  in  pedagogy,  such  as: 
How  can  my  pupils  memorize  spelling  more  rapidly,  from 
the  board  (each  word  being  written,  erased,  and  then  vis- 
ualized), or  from  their  books?  Following  the  steps  in  scien- 
tific method,  tell  in  some  detail  how  you  would  proceed  to 
investigate  this  problem. 

Having  obtained  an  answer,  could  you  be  sure  that  it 
would  hold  for  both  girls  and  boys?  For  pupils  of  other 
ages?  For  any  individual  pupil  in  your  room? 

REFERENCES 

See  References  following  Chapter  XV. 


CHAPTER  XV 

KINDS  OF  LESSON  AND  HOW  TO  TEACH  THEM 

(Continued) 

EXERCISE. — Review  Chapters  XI  and  XIII. 

THE   LESSON  FOR  APPRECIATION 

Purpose. — The  lesson  for  appreciation  aims  to  arouse 
feeling  and  to  direct  it;  to  make  the  heart  thrill,  and  to  get 
that  heart  set  on  things  worth  while.  We  can  see  two  ob- 
jects then:  (i)  pure  pleasure,  and  (2)  the  forming  of  such 
likes  and  dislikes  as  will  serve  to  control  conduct,  make  the 
impulsive  pupil  see  that  the  straight  and  narrow  way  is  the 
through  road  to  blessedness. 

(i)  One  can  learn  to  find  pleasure  in  almost  every  mo- 
ment, object,  and  event.  The  school  should  cultivate  a 
sensitivity  of  soul  to  every  beauty  about  us.  It  is  wrong  to 
spend  all  our  time  scientifically  analyzing  and  classifying 
birds  and  blossoms;  we  must  learn  how  to  relax  and  revel 
in  the  pure  enjoyment  of  them.*  So  with  art  as  well  as 
nature;  music  must  not  always  be  twanged  out  in  fractions, 
nor  painting  be  gauged  by  the  rules  in  the  book,  nor  poetry 
appreciated  by  the  foot.  What  seems  companionable  to 
us  should  be  bosomed  and  carried  home  and  domesticated. 

*  School  means,  literally,  leisure.  It  should  certainly  furnish  leisure 
enough  for  the  enjoyment  of  nature,  music,  poetry,  pictures,  litera- 
ture,— all  that  is  good. 

166 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  167 

Throughout  life,  each  should  have  his  own  household  gods 
and  joy  in  their  service. 

Practically,  one  of  the  large  functions  of  the  appreciation 
lesson  is  to  teach  the  wise  use  of  leisure.  In  the  case  of  many 
individuals,  it  is  fully  as  important  to  teach  them  how  to 
seek  pleasure  rationally  during  those  free  hours  when  their 
salvation  depends  on  their  own  insight  and  self -direction,  as 
it  is  to  develop  a  vocational  skill  which  will  be  exercised 
under  the  constant  oversight  of  a  foreman.  Nights  of 
pleasure  are  much  more  dangerous  for  most  of  us  than 
days  of  work. 

(2)  Our  lighter  feelings  may  seem  as  capricious  as  the 
winds  and  waves,  but  our  deeper  sentiments  ebb  and  flow 
like  great  tides,  fairly  well  fixed  in  their  behavior.  How 
much  would  it  take  to  destroy  our  love  of  country  or  home, 
our  attachment  for  church  or  friends,  our  devotion  to  our 
work  or  even  to  an  ideal!  History,  literature,  moral  train- 
ing,— every  branch  should  work  to  turn  the  currents  of 
the  child's  affections  toward  the  true,  the  beautiful,  the 
good. 

The  lesson  for  appreciation  then  is  not  always  a  mere 
pleasure  lesson,  or  enjoyment  lesson.  A  funeral  is  often  an 
effective  appreciation  lesson.  We  must  learn  to  assign  a 
proper  value  to  the  sad,  stern  things  of  life,  such  as  poverty, 
vice,  and  crime,  as  well  as  to  more  agreeable  experiences. 

Method  of  the  appreciation  lesson. — We  cannot  create 
feeling  at  command.  That  is  why  so  many  well-meant 
exhortations  are  so  useless.  The  empty  command  to  "love 
the  flag"  would  never  make  devoted  patriots.  Our  feelings 
follow  our  perceptions,  ideas,  and  acts,  clothing  and  beauti- 
fying (or  uglifying)  them  as  flesh  and  skin  clothe  and  grace 
the  skeleton.  We  must  control  the  feelings  by  controlling 


168  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  perceptions  and  ideas  that  underlie  them.  There  are 
two  effective  ways  of  doing  this,  (i)  by  contemplation,  and 
(2)  by  participation. 

(i)  Contemplation  serves  to  hold  the  cherished  object  in 
mind  and  let  the  associations  play  about  it,  each  new  sug- 
gestion bringing  its  tributary  rill  of  feeling.*  So  we  may 
contemplate  a  picture,  a  poem,  a  landscape,  a  memory,  an 
ideal,  until  its  beauties  blossom  in  our  souls.  The  teacher's 
work  lies  in  bringing  her  pupils  into  the  presence  of  these 
beauties,  and  in  calling  attention  to  them,  arousing  affective 
associations  in  connection  with  them. 
'  (2)  Participation  in  any  kind  of  activity  is  likely  to  en- 
rich feeling.  While  a  study  of  the  history  and  meaning  of 
our  flag  is  likely  to  arouse  affection  for  it,  yet  he  who  has 
served  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  feels  for  the  old  flag  a 
love  such  as  mere  contemplation  can  never  engender.  As 
teachers,  we  must  try  to  get  our  pupils  active  in  the  cause 
we  would  have  them  support.  Indeed,  psychology  teaches 
that  it  is  mentally  unwholesome  to  arouse  emotion  without 
giving  vent  to  the  emotion  in  action. f  One  aim  of  the 
appreciation  lesson  is  to  form  ideals;  and  an  ideal  formed 
without  action  is  likely  to  lack  the  vitality  that  comes  from 
exercise. 

Imitation  forms  a  strong  motive  to  appreciation.  Feeling 
often  flows  like  magic  through  a  group,  and  the  larger  the 
number  affected,  the  stronger  is  the  mass  effect  on  each. 
Let  the  teacher  show  heartfelt  admiration  for  a  work  of  art 
or  an  unselfish  deed,  and  she  will  excite  a  similar  admiration 


*  A  jeweler  tells  me  he  can  spend  a  happy  hour  examining  a  good 
diamond  with  a  microscope.  He  is  no  miser,  but  a  man  of  strongly 
aesthetic  nature. 

t  To  quote  Elbert  Hubbard:  "Motion  must  equal  emotion." 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  169 

in  her  pupils.    But  she  must  take  care;  let  her  simulate,  act, 
gush,  and  she  may  only  arouse  their  disgust. 

THE   LESSON  FOR   SKILL 

What  acts  of  skill  should  be  acquired? — As  the  acquisi- 
tion of  skill  is  costly  in  time  and  effort,  we  should  know, 
first,  the  purpose  and  value  of  such  acts,  (i)  Certain  skills, 
such  as  buttoning  clothes,  buttering  bread,  writing,  and 
using  the  mother  tongue  correctly,  are  required  of  all. 
(2)  Other  skills  are  necessary  to  future  acquisitions.  Ex- 
amples are  the  mastery  of  the  alphabet  and  the  multiplica- 
tion table.  (3)  Special  skills  are  demanded  in  the  various 
vocations.  It  would  be  difficult  to  catalogue  the  particular 
acts  of  skill  to  be  taught  in  any  school,  but  it  should  not  be 
difficult  for  the  teacher  to  determine  in  any  case,  whether  a 
given  skill  is  worth  to  a  certain  pupil  the  labor  of  acquisi- 
tion. A  graceful  walk  is  important;  dancing  is  less  so. 

Drill.* — Probably  the  most  difficult  part  of  this  process 
lies  in  obtaining  sufficient  drill  without  making  the  process 
wearisome  by  its  monotony.  Perhaps  this  is  due  in  part 
to  the  fact  that  the  old-fashioned  drill  was  blind,  long,  and 
unvaried.  The  drill  period  should  be  short;  for  young 
children,  not  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  It  requires 
a  strong  and  fairly  mature  nervous  system  to  withstand  a 
half  hour  of  rapid  drill  without  undue  fatigue. 

A  proper  distribution  of  drill  periods  will  insure  the 
desired  results.  Better  two  fifteen-minute  periods  daily 
than  one  thirty-minute  period.  Better  two  thirty-minute 
periods  or  three  twenty-minute  periods  for  grammar  and 
high-school  pupils  than  an  hour  of  solid  work.  Regularity, 

*  A  suggestive  drill  lesson  is  found  on  page  197. 


i;o  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

too,  is  a  factor.  The  student  who  settles  down  to  his  prac- 
tice at  eight  o'clock  each  evening  will  far  outstrip  the  bril- 
liant but  intermittent  worker.  While  there  is  a  legitimate 
lounging  time  in  the  learning  process,  too  much  reliance  on 
it  is  likely  to  establish  the  habit  of  laziness. 

The  drill  should  be  varied  in  detail,  though  the  funda- 
mental process  must  not  be  changed.  Six  times  seven  are 
forty- two:  we  can  tap  on  the  floor  six  times  with  a  pointer, 
each  rap  standing  for  seven;  or  let  the  combination  appear 
on  one  of  a  series  of  cards;  or  put  it  into  a  problem;  or  let 
pupils  base  a  story  on  the  fact;  or  write  it  in  red  crayon; 
or  add  a  column  of  six  sevens,  etc.  The  best  process,  of 
course,  so  long  as  interest  can  be  maintained  in  it,  is  the  one 
most  like  that  of  actual  life.  So  the  drill  in  spelling  should 
be  mainly  written,  the  drill  in  language  mainly  oral.  For 
this  very  reason  we  should  have  much  more  drill  than  at 
present  in  rapid,  silent  reading,  followed  by  an  oral  report. 

Further  (as  has  been  stated  before),  the  most  difficult 
parts  of  the  skill  act  should  be  isolated  for  special  drill. 
The  most  difficult  words  in  a  series  of  lessons,  the  hardest 
combinations  in  the  multiplication  table,  the  most  impor- 
tant dates  in  history,  and  the  like,  should  be  listed  and 
drilled,  to  the  comparative  neglect  of  the  easy  and  unim- 
portant. 

But  the  easy  and  comparatively  unimportant  must  not 
drop  totally  out  of  sight.  When  a  series  such  as  the  multi- 
plication table  is  to  be  drilled  upon,  it  is  well  to  have  each 
item  on  a  separate  card,  or  otherwise  isolated,  to  make  sure 
that,  in  our  random  skipping  about,  no  part  is  entirely 
neglected. 

The  pupil's  errors  should  be  corrected  persistently;  in 
fact,  we  should  in  most  cases  prevent  his  making  them  if  we 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  171 

can.  The  marksman  who  misses  the  target  improves  much 
more  rapidly,  if  he  is  told  where  he  does  hit.  The  pupil 
should  be  told,  one  item  at  a  time,  just  what  he  is  doing  that 
he  ought  not  to  do,  as  well  as  what  he  is  not  doing  but  should 
do,  and  then  he  should  be  given  the  correct  form.  This  is 
the  main  reason  why  concert  drill  is  bad;  in  many  subjects 
we  cannot  discover  and  correct  individual  errors.  We 
must  keep  the  ideal  clearly  in  mind,  or  our  practice  is  vain. 
As  White  well  says,  Repetitio  mater  studiorum  becomes 
Repetitio  mater  stupidorum*  unless  we  work  under  the  in- 
spiration and  guidance  of  clear  ideals. 

Greater  than  the  details  of  the  process  is  the  determined 
attitude  of  the  conqueror.  Keep  the  picture  of  success 
vividly  before  the  pupil,  and  if  he  is  made  of  the  right  stuff 
he  can  endure  anything.  The  fact  that  he  will  not  endure 
hardship  is  a  severe  reflection  on  him.  The  best  incentive, 
wherever  it  can  be  appreciated,  is  the  vision  of  the  result 
in  terms  of  efficiency. 

METHODS   COMMON  TO  ALL  LESSONS 

Oral  and  written  work. — Those  teachers  are  very  rare 
whose  tendency  is  toward  too  much  oral  work.  From  the 
time  the  pupil  learns  to  print  or  write,  all  the  way  through 
his  university  course,  his  labors  with  pencil  and  pen  are 
likely  to  interfere  with  his  education.  Turning  to  life  out- 
side of  school,  we  find  that  few  adults  do  much  writing: 
even  the  arithmetic  of  everyday  life  is  largely  oral,  and  none 
records  his  history,  or  geography,  or  physiology.  If  we 
consider  the  amount  of  talking  we  do  as  compared  with  our 
letter  and  other  writing,  it  appears  that  even  in  language 

"Repetition  is  the  mother  of  learning"  becomes  "Repetition  is 
the  mother  of  stupidity." 


172          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

work  we  may  well  ease  finger  cramp  by  working  the  tongue 
muscles.  The  future  for  which  we  are  preparing  most  of 
our  pupils  is  not  so  much  a  writing  future  as  a  talking 
future. 

True,  the  school  may  have  ends  of  its  own  that  justify 
much  writing,  but  the  burden  of  proof  is  certainly  on  the 
advocate  of  the  pen.  If  it  is  urged,  for  example,  that  all 
can  write  at  one  time,  whereas  not  all  can  talk  at  once,  we 
may  reply  that  all  can  listen,  all  can  think  at  one  time; 
that  the  stimulus  of  new  ideas  is  much  greater  than  when 
each  sits  isolated  by  silence;  and  that  even  a  fraction  of  the 
time  devoted  to  writing  would  suffice  to  utter  all  the  words 
penned.  In  the  case  of  certain  motor-minded  pupils,  writ- 
ing is  the  most  economical  way  of  inducing  reliable  memory. 
Here  the  time-killing  process  justifies  itself. 

Correction,  too,  is  much  more  easily  accomplished  orally, 
and  is  likely  to  produce  a  deeper  psychological  effect.  If 
the  pupil  blunders  in  speech  he  can  be  halted  on  the  instant, 
and  the  right  nervous  channel  opened  immediately,  and 
cleared  by  a  few  repetitions.  When  writing,  he  goes  on 
practicing  his  error,  deepening  the  wrong  nervous  outlet, 
and  the  blue  pencil  of  the  teacher  strikes  too  late.  In  case 
of  dictation  or  written  drill  of  any  kind,  a  nearly  immediate 
correction  is  furnished  by  the  teacher's  exhibiting  the  stand- 
ard form,  and  directing  the  pupils  as  they  detect  and  rectify 
all  deviations  from  it.  This  also  enables  one  to  rid  himself 
legitimately  of  many  irksome  bundles  of  exercises  whose 
correction  consumes  his  evening  time  and  may  even  form 
a  real  barrier  to  his  professional  improvement. 

Another  good  plan,  especially  with  large  classes,  is  to 
have  pupils  write  rather  frequent  brief  papers.  These  can 
be  scanned  rapidly,  and  without  either  marking  or  return- 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  173 

ing  them  the  most  common  errors  and  misconceptions  can 
be  corrected  vividly  in  the  classroom.  This,  if  supplemented 
by  judicious  board  work  and  by  occasional  test  papers 
thoroughly  corrected  and  thoroughly  re-read  by  the  pupil- 
it  is  often  wise  to  take  class  time  for  this  immediately  upon 
the  return  of  the  paper — will  usually  prove  sufficient  to 
establish  good  written  practice.  All  teachers  who  work 
together  should  unite  on  a  simple  system  of  proof  readers' 
or  rhetoricians'  symbols  to  indicate  errors  in  English,  which 
should  be  used  in  the  correction  of  papers  in  all  branches. 
No  matter  how  excellent  the  teaching  of  English,  good 
usage  is  likely  to  be  grossly  and  habitually  violated  unless 
teachers,  in  addition  to  pushing  their  specialties,  unite  in 
an  effort  to  maintain  the  purity  of  the  mother  tongue. 

Analysis  and  synthesis. — The  objects  to  be  analyzed  may 
be  either  concrete  or  abstract.  We  analyze  a  flower  by  ac- 
tually pulling  it  to  pieces,  or  at  least  noting  the  number  and 
relation  of  the  parts  as  they  stand.  We  analyze  a  sentence, 
a  thought,  a  sermon,  not  by  handling  or  viewing  its  parts, 
but  by  a  purely  mental  process.  It  is  true  there  may  be 
some  physical  accompaniment  to  assist  our  imagery;  we 
may  utter  the  thought,  or  outline  the  sermon  in  writing. 

Usually  the  chief  reason  for  analyzing  anything  is  to  find 
how  its  parts  go  together,  in  order  to  build  it  up,  synthesize 
it,  and  control  it.  So  we  analyze  a  square  into  unit  squares 
and  derive  the  rule  for  finding  its  area;  in  reading  and  writ- 
ing we  analyze  words  into  sounds  and  letters,  for  the  sake  of 
rebuilding  and  controlling  these  words.  Very  similar  and 
confusing  objects  can  often  be  analyzed  to  advantage,  as 
the  similar  parts  of  Latin  verbs,  or  of  such  words  as  a/fect 
and  e/fect,  or  such  numbers  as  20,000  and  200,000. 

Relation  of  parts  is  especially  important  where  the  same 


174          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

elements,  differently  combined,  produce  different  wholes, 
as  d-o-g  and  g-o-d  for  young  children,  or  graph-o-phone  and 
phon-o-graph  for  older  ones,  or  the  numbers  12  and  21,  or 
the  place  of  the  decimal  point,  or  the  order  of  words  in  such 
a  sentence  as  John  struck  James,  or  the  inversion  of  the 
right  fraction  in  dividing.* 

Lecture  method,  topical  method,  question  method.— 
These  are  the  three  general  ways  by  which  teacher  and 
pupils  can  communicate  with  each  other.  Their  values 
ought  to  be  fairly  evident  to  one  who  is  clear  as  to  what  he 
is  trying  to  accomplish.  Probably  the  most  important 
principle  to  remember  is  that  no  one  of  them  should  be  used 
incessantly. 

The  lecture  or  sermon  method  adapts  itself  well  to  in- 
formation and  appreciation  lessons.  Its  use  should  depend 
largely  on  the  age  and  earnestness  of  the  class.  So  long  as 
the  mind  of  the  pupil  follows  the  thought  of  the  instructor, 
all  is  well;  the  teacher  should  interrupt  his  talk  with  ques- 
tions and  discussions,  and  encourage  his  pupils  to  interrupt 
him,  frequently  enough  to  make  sure  that  the  mental  con- 
tact points  are  sufficiently  close  for  a  current  to  pass.  The 
lecture  method  is  likely  to  entail  great  thoroughness  of 
preparation  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  and  laxity  among 
the  pupils.  It  should  be  supported  by  quizzes  and  written 
lessons  or  some  form  of  practical  accomplishment.  There 


*  How  far  analysis  should  be  carried  in  any  case  depends  on  the 
purpose  in  view,  for  theoretically  it  has  no  readily  approachable  limit. 
It  would  be  silly,  in  an  art  lesson,  to  analyze  the  body  into  cells,  and 
these  in  turn  into  molecules  and  atoms.  But  it  would  be  equally 
foolish  not  to  recognize  that  human  beings  are  composed  of  head, 
trunk,  and  limbs.  We  may  analyze  a  sentence  into  subject  and 
predicate  merely,  or  into  words,  or  go  further  and  analyze  these  words 
into  sounds  or  letters,  according  to  what  we  are  trying  to  do,  what  we 
want  our  information  for. 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  175 

is  special  need  of  some  kind  of  exercise  that  requires  inde- 
pendent thought. 

The  topical  method  reverses  matters ;  the  pupil  is  required 
to  lecture  to  the  teacher.  In  other  words,  he  is  given  a  topic 
and  is  asked  to  tell  what  he  can  about  it.  Such  a  method, 
with  its  demands  for  organization  of  matter,  for  deft  use  of 
language,  for  sustained  effort,  is  better  suited  to  reviews 
than  to  new  lessons.  The  advance  lesson  is  likely  to  be 
scrappy  and  unorganized  in  the  pupil's  consciousness,  not 
fully  apperceived,  laden  with  new  terms  not  yet  under  con- 
trol. To  insist  that  such  fragmentary  material  be  worked 
up  into  smoothly  flowing  paragraphs  means  to  drive  the 
average  pupil  to  memoriter  work,  unless  he  is  given  time  to 
write  his  discussion.  With  reviews,  even  the  brief  daily 
reviews  that  introduce  most  lessons,  the  case  is  different; 
the  matter  ought  to  have  undergone  some  assimilation,  and 
a  pupil  should  be  able  to  recite  freely  in  topics,  up  to  the 
limit  of  his  linguistic  ability. 

The  question  method  will  be  discussed  thoroughly  in  the 
next  chapter. 

Reviews  and  tests. — In  the  outside  world  we  find  that 
reviews  and  tests  are  undertaken  for  very  practical  purposes. 
The  business  man  frequently  reviews  during  his  evening 
leisure  the  events  of  each  day,  but  most  of  his  information 
is  "on  file"  rather  than  "on  tap."  The  physician  carries 
about  with  him  sufficient  knowledge  to  meet  the  demands 
of  ordinary  practice,  but  studies  special  cases  and  "reads 
up"  the  disease  which  threatens  an  epidemic.  In  each  case 
there  is  a  practical  demand  to  be  met,  and  knowledge  or 
skill  is  revived  to  meet  it. 

The  difficulty  in  school  is  that  there  are  not  enough 
practical  demands  that  are  felt  by  the  child  to  be  such.  His 


176          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

little  ordeals  are  artificial,  teacher-made  troubles.  If  only 
there  were  something  he  really  wanted  to  accomplish,  the 
review  or  test  could  be  made  to  stand  between  him  and  its 
accomplishment.  If  his  highest  ideal  is  to  "pass,"  it  may 
goad  him  on  to  large  scholastic  inflation  at  certain  times  of 
year.  But  the  true  review  or  test  is  different;  it  is  the  next 
necessary  step  to  solid  attainment,  an  accumulation  of  force 
in  order  to  attack  a  new  problem. 

It  is  unnecessary,  then,  to  cover  every  detail  of  the  sub- 
ject reviewed.  We  should  adopt  the  method  of  history,  scan 
the  past  to  find  what  it  can  yield  of  value  to  the  future. 
The  same  truth  applies  to  our  tests.  They  should  not  be 
mere  random  displays  of  the  pupil's  interior  furnishings,  but 
a  run  of  the  engine  to  find  if  it  is  ready  to  take  the  road,  with 
an  inspection  to  see  that  all  the  necessary  tools  are  in  place. 

//  is  most  important  to  review  every  day,  briefly,  the  lesson 
of  the  preceding  day.  Our  series  of  daily  lessons  should  over- 
lap like  steps,  each  resting  on  the  one  below  it.  Teachers 
have  to  learn,  often  by  bitter  disappointment  on  examina- 
tion day,  that  so  far  as  concerns  the  practical  survival  of 
facts  in  the  minds  of  pupils,  the  law  of  frequency  is  the  law 
of  life. 

It  helps  us  much  in  shaping  our  reviews  and  tests,  if  we 
are  clear  as  to  whether  we  should  require  from  the  pupil 
information,  thought,  appreciation,  or  skill.  Skill  is  easily 
tested.  There  is  a  definite  act  to  be  performed;  let  the  pupil 
prove  himself  by  performing  it.  Only  Ulysses  can  string 
Ulysses'  bow. 

In  testing  for  information,  it  is  better  not  to  require  any 
particular  bits  of  it,  any  more  than  one  would  require  a  man 
to  have  among  his  small  change  a  coin  of  a  certain  denomi- 
nation and  date.  Let  him  show  what  he  has,  and  see  if  it 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  177 

makes  a  respectable  display.  Give  the  pupil  good,  sizable 
topics  and  let  him  discuss  them,  showing  how  many  facts 
he  has  and  how  well  he  can  marshal  them.  Of  course  some 
pieces  of  information  are  important  because  they  are  like 
keys,  a  means  of  controlling  larger  bulks.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, is  the  knowledge  of  where  to  place  the  decimal 
point.  Such  items  must  be  well  drilled  in,  and  may  then  be 
demanded  of  all. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  test  for  thought.  Information  is 
supposed  to  be  kept  in  stock  to  some  extent,  but  real  thought 
is  a  kind  of  original  creation  which  cannot  be  forced, — wit- 
ness the  reward  awaiting  him  who  can  produce  a  single  new 
thought  in  art,  literature,  or  mechanics.  Perhaps  we  can 
wisely  subdivide  thinking  into  the  imitative  and  the  original. 
Given  the  number  of  pounds  and  the  price  per  pound,  a 
pupil  should  be  able  to  "  think  out"  the  cost  of  a  bag  of 
sugar,  if  he  has  had  practice  in  such  work.  But  no  problem 
which  requires  the  discovery  of  a  thoroughly  new  mental 
association,  or  the  recognition  of  an  old  one  in  an  utterly 
strange  form,  should  be  given  in  the  course  of  the  ordinary 
examination.  Thinking  is  like  mining.  All  you  can  do  is  to 
'delve  away,  following  the  best  lead  you  have;  but  when 
you  are  to  strike  ore  depends  largely  on  the  luck. 

Appreciation  cannot  be  gauged  accurately  by  ordinary 
schoolroom  tests.  This  is  unfortunate,  for  appreciation 
stands  close  to  conduct  and  to  life.  It  is  trying  to  us 
teachers  to  know  that  our  most  precious  product  is  too 
complex  for  ready  measurement. 

Examinations. — The  traditional  final  examination,  a  test 
which,  independently  of  all  class  records,  determined  the 
status  of  the  candidate,  is  gone,  we  hope,  forever.  But  only 
the  sentiment  of  an  extremist  would  sacrifice  all  examina- 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 12 


178  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

tions  because  some  have  been  abused.  Examinations  given 
by  principal,  superintendent,  supervisor,  state  board,  or 
some  other  inspecting  agency  may  all  be  made  to  serve  a 
high  purpose  and  work  for  real  efficiency.  In  spite  of  all  the 
ancient  objections,  the  right  kind  of  pupil  does  not  wish  to 
escape  the  right  kind  of  examination,  given  by  the  right 
kind  of  examiner. 

The  examiner  should  keep  ever  in  mind  the  purpose  of  his 
examination,  the  scope  he  can  legitimately  cover,  the  com- 
plexity permissible  in  the  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  candi- 
date, and  the  aims  to  which  the  instructor  has  devoted  his 
efforts.  He  should  be  a  man  of  judicial  temperament, 
one  who  will  not  be  influenced — to  take  Binet's  example — 
by  the  sourness  of  his  stomach,  or  by  his  inward  desire  to 
see  certain  candidates  or  classes  succeed  or  fail. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Explain  in  psychological  terms  the  difference  between 
learning  an  act  of  skill  and  committing  to  memory  the  rule 
for  performing  the  act. 

2.  Which  should  you  value  most  highly,  information 
concerning  the  technique  of  music,   critical  appreciation 
of  others'  music,  or  the  ability  to  produce  music  yourself? 
Why?    Should  your  view  determine  what  you  emphasize 
in  teaching  your  pupils? 

3.  Analyze  the  following  acts  of  skill  into  their  simplest 
component  acts:  writing,  reading,  making  a  speech,  lacing 
shoes,  sawing  off  a  board. 

4.  Resolved  that  it  is  more  educative,  that  is,  mentally 
beneficial,  to  be  an  amateur  in  many  different  sports  than  to 
be  expert  in  one.    Debate  this. 

5.  Invent  some  ways  of  varying  the  drill  on  the  most 
important  dates  in  history;  the  chief  cities  in  geography. 


KINDS  OF  LESSON  179 

6.  State  some  ways  of  isolating  for  special  drill  the  most 
difficult  combinations  of  the  multiplication  table;  the  hard- 
est words  in  the  reading  or  spelling  lesson;  the  most  common 
grammatical  blunders  made  by  your  pupils. 

7.  Describe  some  experience  that  developed  in  you  a 
degree  of  appreciation  for  a  certain  fact,  or  object,  or  law, 
or  moral  truth. 

8.  How  would  a  boy  "review  "  baseball  if  he  expected  to 
play  an  important  game?    How,  if  he  expected  to  serve  as 
umpire? 

9.  Wishing  to  employ  a  house  servant  or  chauffeur,  you 
give  each  applicant  a  written  examination  only.    Comment 
on  this. 

10.  Show  how  current  events  can  be  used  in  the  apprecia- 
tion lesson. 

REFERENCES 

Charters,  W.  W.,  Methods  of  Teaching,  Chs.  VIII,  XXI, 
XXIII. 

Gordy,  J.  P.,  A  Broader  Elementary  Education,  Ch.  XVIII. 

Hamilton,  Samuel,  The  Recitation. 

Landon,  Joseph,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  etc., 
Chs.  Ill,  V;  and  Parts  III,  IV,  and  V,  of  Ch.  VI. 

Scott,  Colin  A.,  Social  Education,  Ch.  VIII. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  Education.  (See  especially  Chapter  I> 
"What  Knowledge  is  of  Most  Worth.") 

Strayer,  George  Drayton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process, 
Chs.  IV,  V,  VI,  VII,  IX,  X. 

White,  Emerson  E.,  Examinations  and  Promotions  in  Graded 
Schools.  (U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education.) 


CHAPTER  XVI 

QUESTIONING 

"In  a  well-conducted  class,  we  have  actors  only  and  no  audience 
['public'];  each  should  play  his  part  of  greater  or  less  importance, 
according  to  the  piece  and  to  his  own  ability.  Or  better  still,  if  I  may 
be  permitted  a  second  comparison,  a  class  should  be  like  an  orchestra; 
but  in  an  orchestra,  there  are  none  but  players.  No  one  plays  from 
beginning  to  end  of  the  selection;  but  there  is  no  one  who  does  not 
play,  even  if  only  for  an  instant,  be  it  only  to  strike  a  single  note  at  the 
right  time,  a  blow  on  the  tam-tam  or  on  the  big  drum;  all  come  into 
play,  giving  strict  attention  to  the  moment  of  striking  in  and  to  the 
performance  of  their  parts.  The  solos  are  reserved  for  the  better 
musicians,  and  the  leader  of  the  orchestra  (yourself,  teacher)  directs 
the  performers,  ever  turning,  now  to  one,  now  to  another,  indicating 
by  the  stroke  of  his  baton  when  the  time  is  come  to  strike  up;  making 
look  and  gesture  significant,  not  using  his  own  instrument  except 
when  he  perceives  the  performers  losing  spirit  and  wishes  to  encourage 
the  orchestra. 

"  So  in  the  class,  it  is  needless  that  any  should  be  inert  or  dead,  as 
too  often  happens;  life  should  run  from  seat  to  seat,  stirring  up  the 
sleepy,  inciting  the  dull,  stimulating  the  indifferent,  drawing  all  this 
little  world  into  the  same  current.  The  energy  the  master  employs 
in  creating  and  sustaining  this  movement  will  be  much  better  em- 
ployed than  that  which  he  would  use  up  in  the  wasteful  effort  of  doing 
all  the  talking  himself." 

VESSIOT.    (Translated  from  the  French.) 

EXERCISES. — How  do  you  feel  when  a  question  is  put  to 
you?  What  is  a  question,  psychologically  considered? 
What  relation  does  it  bear  to  scientific  procedure? 

Make  a  list  of  questions  such  as  you  would  use  in  teach- 
ing a  third  grade,  "The  Meaning  of  the  Fourth  of  July." 

180 


QUESTIONING  181 

Make  a  similar  list  of  questions  to  be  used  for  the  same 
purpose  in  an  eighth  grade  class. 

Importance  of  questioning. — "What  is  most  important 
in  good  teaching?"  was  asked  of  an  old  teacher.  "Good 
questioning."  "And  what  next?"  "Good  questioning." 
' '  And  what  third?  "  "  Good  questioning, — and  so  on  to  the 
end."  This  story,  given  by  a  French  author,  is  reenforced 
by  the  aphorism  of  another  French  educator  who  says, 
Savoir  interroger,  c'est  savoir  enseigner!  (To  know  how  to 
question  is  to  know  how  to  teach.) 

Our  environment  is  one  perpetual  question.  Wonder  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom.  We  have  seen  that  the  first  step 
in  scientific  method  is  "getting  a  definite  question  to  an- 
swer." The  teacher  must  furnish  such  questions. 

Purpose  of  questions. — The  question  stimulates.  To  ask, 
"What  causes  dew?"  rouses  the  pupil  much  more  than  to 
say  to  him,  "Dew  is  caused  by  the  contact  of  moist  air  with 
a  body  colder  than  itself."  By  questions  we  test  the  learner, 
perhaps  make  him  feel  that  his  mind  is  being  thrown  open 
to  the  public  gaze;  we  find  where  his  education  leaves  off, 
where  we  must  begin  to  develop  it;  and  we  use  the  question 
constantly  as  a  spur  to  such  development.*  It  is  wise, 
sometimes,  to  throw  out  a  wonder  question  at  the  opening 
of  a  lesson,  even  one  so  difficult  as  to  defeat  the  whole  class 
temporarily,  but  which  can  be  stormed  and  taken,  in  the 
course  of  a  campaign  of  questions. 

Further,  question  and  answer  serve  to  place  teacher  and 
pupil  on  a  common  level  and  maintain  what  may  be  called 
mental  contact.  Stiffness  and  formality  are  removed,  and 
the  lesson  becomes  conversational,  natural.  He  is  a  skillful 


*  See  the  exercise  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 


182          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

teacher  who  can  induce  his  pupils  to  question  him  and 
question  each  other  intelligently. 

Finally,  questioning  is  an  excellent  means  of  maintaining 
ord^r  and  centering  attention  on  the  particular  point  under 
discussion.  Let  the  class  learn  that  the  shepherd  has  a  crook 
in  the  form  of  a  question  mark,  with  which  he  captures 
the  wandering  sheep,  and  there  will  be  little  wandering. 

Attitude  of  the  teacher. — Questioning  is  more  likely 
than  are  most  other  exercises  to  cause  friction,  irritation, 
perhaps  resentment.  The  teacher  should  maintain  toward 
the  class  a  well-balanced  attitude  of  dignified  sympathy, 
kindliness,  cooperation,  firmness,  restrained  enthusiasm. 
She  is  not  there  to  quiz  her  class  into  an  appearance  of 
knowledge  which  they  do  not  possess,  to  pull  them  through 
in  spite  of  themselves;  nor  to  prove  that  their  highest 
wisdom  does  not  exceed  the  level  of  her  lowest  folly,  to 
humiliate  them  in  spite  of  themselves;  but  to  meet  them 
cordially  on  their  own  level  and  question  them  up  to  hers. 

Kinds  of  questions. — When  we  ask  a  question  we  should 
know  just  what  kind  of  challenge  we  are  putting  to  the  pu- 
pil, whether  we  require  that  he  perceive,  remember,  im- 
agine, think,  show  his  appreciation,  or  demonstrate  his  skill. 
Probably  the  simplest  way  to  keep  this  in  mind  is  to  classify 
questions  as  we  do  lessons:  "When  did  Columbus  discover 
America?"  calls  for  information;  "If  the  earth  fell,  where 
would  it  go?  "  requires  thought;  "-Who  is  the  greatest  Ameri- 
can? "  opens  an  opportunity  for  appreciation;  "How  many 
words  a  minute  can  you  write?  "  is  a  test  of  skill. 

Qualities  of  good  questions. — Questions  must  be  clear. 
We  but  waste  our  breath  if  we  fail  to  make  the  pupil  under- 
stand what  is  wanted.  Usually  our  questions  will  be  brief 
and  expressed  in  simple  words.  Always  they  will  be  adapted 


QUESTIONING  i8j 

to  the  age  and  development  of  the  pupil.  "  What  gregarious 
animals  have  their  habitat  in  rural  regions?  "  would  hardly 
be  understood  by  a  fifth-grade  child.  "What  ahimals  are 
found  in  flocks  or  herds  in  the  country?  "  would  be  better; 
but  if  the  pupil  has  never  been  to  the  country,  he  may  still 
be  unable  to  answer. 

The  good  question  permits  but  one  answer.  Putting  such 
a  question  is  like  holding  up  one  half  of  a  solid,  such  as  the 
cone  or  the  sphere,  and  asking  the  pupil  to  produce  the  other 
half;  or  like  pointing  to  some  niche  of  a  half-completed  pic- 
ture puzzle  and  asking  for  the  piece  that  will  fit  it.  This 
eliminates  vague  and  general  questions.  As  a  rule,  do  not 
ask :  "Who  was  Caesar? "  or,  "What  have  you  to  say  of  this 
poem  of  Longfellow's?"  "On  what  river  is  Harrisburg?  " 
is  much  better  than  "Where  is  Harrisburg?  "  if  it  is  the  fact 
of  location  on  a  river  that  is  to  be  emphasized.  But  ques- 
tions that  are  faulty  in  this  respect  when  standing  alone 
may  be  clear  in  a  context  of  related  questions.* 

A  series  of  questions  should  be  so  linked  together,  con- 
catenated, as  to  urge  the  pupil  toward  a  conclusion  or  cli- 
max. It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  teacher  know  the 
point  she  is  steering  for.  In  teaching  Tennyson's  Crossing 
the  Bar,  for  example,  it  is  ruinous  to  the  splendid  sentiment 
of  the  poem  to  drag  in  all  the  details  of  harbor  construction. 
In  teaching  Caesar's  Commentaries  one  should  not  question 
about  the  whole  military  organization  of  Rome  unless  that 
is  one  of  the  avowed  objects  of  the  study.  We  should  turn 
on  only  so  many  side  lights  as  will  show  up  our  star  subject 
in  clear  relief.  We  cannot  too  often  remind  ourselves  that 

*  Emphasis,  too,  often  shows  which  possible  answer  is  required. 
"Did  Christopher  Columbus  discover  the  maritime  route  to  the 
Indies?"  Such  a  question  may  refer  primarily  to  Columbus,  to  the 
Indies,  or  to  the  discovery;  emphasis  determines  which. 


184          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  high  road  to  success  lies  in  a  clear  discernment  of  the 
purpose  to  be  achieved  and  an  everlasting  push  toward  its 
attainment. 

Questions  to  be  avoided. — Probably  the  most  common 
and  worst  fault  of  all  is  that  of  rambling,  merely  filling  in  the 
time  with  questions  of  some  sort,  instead  of  pushing  on  to  a 
definite  conclusion. 

Questions  that  suggest  the  answer  are  useless.     Such  are 
"What  do  you  call  a  man  who  robs  another?  "    "Did  Caesar 
cross  the  Rubicon?"    But  questions  that  imply  a  false  an- 
swer are  frequently  valuable  to  test  the  suggestibility  of  the 
pupil;  as,  "Why  did  the  North  favor  slavery?" 

Questions  that  open  but  two  alternatives,  one  type  of 
these  being  the  yes-or-no  questions,  are  usually  condemna- 
ble.  If  a  coin  is  tossed  a  thousand  times  it  will  turn  about 
five  hundred  heads  and  as  many  tails.  If  asked  to  foretell 
the  result  of  each  fall,  we  could  give  the  same  answer  every 
time,  without  thought,  and  be  certain  of  making  fifty  per 
cent  on  the  test,  in  the  long  run.  A  pupil  who  knows  noth- 
ing whatever  about  a  subject  can  answer  the  ordinary  yes- 
or-no  questions  without  thought  and  be  right  half  the  time. 
It  is  very  difficult,  however,  to  avoid  these  questions  alto- 
gether; and  if  the  answers  are  followed  up  and  subjected  to 
further  testing,  all  is  well. 

The  common  sense  of  every  teacher  will  lead  her  to 
beware  of  a  fixed  set  of  questions,  a  catechism  consisting, 
perhaps,  of  difficult  definitions  and  other  statements  too 
profound,  for  the  most  part,  for  the  young  responders  to 
understand.  Any  teacher  who  thus  deceives  herself  and 
her  casual  visitors  should  have  a  superintendent  who  will 
prick  the  bubble  by  asking  for  a  practical  application  of  the 
truths  expressed. 


QUESTIONING  185 

We  should  never,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  attempt 
to  question  pupils  into  thinking  out  conventional  knowledge, 
such  as  the  name  of  a  river.  If  such  facts  are  unknown  when 
the  need  for  them  arises,  they  must  simply  be  supplied.  We 
can  question  out  thought,  but  not  information. 

Calling  on  pupils. — When  a  question  requiring  thought 
is  given  out,  there  should  be  a  pause  to  afford  time  for 
reflection,  after  which  should  follow  the  name  of  the  pupil 
who  is  to  answer.  If  the  name  of  the  pupil  precedes  the 
question,  all  the  others  can  safely  cease  their  search  for  the 
answer.  Hand  raising  may  be  permitted,  but  any  bustle 
or  outcry  of  answers  should  be  subdued  at  once.  Teachers 
who  have  been  falsely  taught  that  they  must  work  con- 
stantly at  top  speed  and  lift  the  safety  valve  with  enthusi- 
asm are  likely  to  call  forth  such  disorder,  through  imitation 
of  their  rapid  movements  and  high-keyed  voices.  But  if  one 
is  able  to  stand  or  sit  still  and  yet  put  vigor  into  his  work, 
he  will  easily  subdue  the  too  high  waves  of  excitement. 

It  is  of  course  unwise,  as  a  rule,  to  call  on  pupils  in  any 
fixed  order;  and  for  most  teachers  it  is  worse  than  useless  to 
shuffle  cards  bearing  the  names  of  the  pupils,  or  use  any  such 
device  to  determine  who  shall  receive  the  next  question.  To 
revert  to  the  figure  of  the  class  as  an  orchestra,  each  ques- 
tion will  often  suggest  the  pupil  who  can  most  appropriately 
supply  the  answer,  and  who  should  "strike  up"  at  this 
point.  It  is  not  a  bad  plan  to  make  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  the  questions  simple,  and  distribute  them  among 
the  weaker  members  of  the  class,  keeping  the  better  brains 
as  reserves  for  emergencies.  Whoever  reaches  the  duller 
pupils  teacJies  all  the  pupils. 

Excepting  when  we  wish  to  emphasize  some  statement 
by  the  force  of  united  repetition,  we  should  avoid  concert 


186  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

recitations.  Each  learner  should  as  a  rule  be  thrown  on  his 
own  responsibility.  But  it  is  an  excellent  practice  to  give 
out  unusually  difficult  questions  to  the  class  as  a  whole  and 
let  them  combine  their  wits  in  its  solution,  keeping  up  a 
searching  fire  of  minor  questions  to  separate  false  answers 
from  true. 

Answers. — It  ought  to  be  unnecessary  to  say  that  an 
answer  should  be  conceived  by  the  pupil  who  gives  it.  An- 
swers must  be  accurate,  expressed  in  good  English;  com- 
plete, but  not  too  inclusive  or  rambling.  Completeness  does 
not  imply  that  yes  or  no  or  other  abbreviated  answers  may 
not  be  used.  They  should  be  used  habitually,  as  all  sensible 
people  in  ordinary  intercourse  use  them,  except,  possibly, 
when  young  pupils  are  learning  the  language.  But  mono- 
syllabic grunts,  or  poor  English,  choppy  and  infirm,  or 
muttering  in  low  tones  should  not  fail  of  correction.  The 
attitude  and  behavior  of  the  pupil  while  answering  should  be 
just  that  of  all  cultivated  people  in  public  places,  neither 
slouchy,  nor  stiff  with  the  starch  of  formality. 

No  pupil  should  be  interrupted  while  answering,  except 
to  correct  a  fault  so  grave  that  the  interruption  is  desirable 
to  emphasize  the  correction. 

Very  conscientious  or  traditionally  minded  teachers 
sometimes  feel  that  each  recitation  of  every  pupil  should 
receive  a  mark.  Such  a  process  may  be  necessary  occasion- 
ally; but  speaking  generally  the  time  so  occupied  is  wasted. 


FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

Following  is  a  most  excellent  example  of  questioning, 
quoted  from  Fitch,  who  took  it  from  Plato.  The  student 
should  read  it  carefully,  criticizing  the  questions  both  favor- 


QUESTIONING  187 

ably  and  adversely,  noting  in  particular  the  exposition  of 
error,  and  the  compulsion  to  think, — to  think  the  truth. 

There  was  one  of  the  disciples  of  Socrates,  named  Meno,  who  had 
been  thus  probed  and  interrogated  until  he  felt  a  somewhat  uncom- 
fortable conviction  that  he  was  not  so  wise  as  he  had  thought,  and 
who  complained  to  the  philosopher  of  what  he  called  the  merely 
negative  character  of  his  instruction. 

"Why,  Socrates,"  said  he,  "you  remind  me  of  that  broad  sea.  fish 
called  the  torpedo,  which  produces  a  numbness  in  the  person  who  ap- 
proaches and  touches  it.  For,  in  truth,  I  seem  benumbed  both  in 
mind  and  mouth,  and  know  not  what  to  reply  to  you,  and  yet  I  have 
often  spoken  on  this  subject  with  great  fluency  and  success." 

In  reply  Socrates  says  little,  but  calls  to  him  Meno's  attendant,  a 
young  slave  boy,  and  begins  to  question  him. 

"My  boy,  do  you  know  what  figure  this  is?"  (drawing  a  square 
upon  the  ground  with  a  stick). 

"O  yes.    It  is  a  square." 

"What  do  you  notice  about  these  lines?"  (tracing  them). 

"That  all  four  are  equal." 

"Could  there  be  another  space  like  this,  only  larger  or  less?" 

"Certainly." 

"Suppose  this  line  (pointing  to  one  of  the  sides)  is  two  feet  long, 
how  many  feet  will  there  be  in  the  whole?" 

"Twice  two." 

"How  many  is  that?" 

"Four." 

"Will  it  be  possible  to  have  another  space  twice  this  size?" 

"Yes." 

"How  many  square  feet  will  it  contain?" 

"Eight." 

"Then  how  long  will  the  sides  of  such  a  space  be?" 

"It  is  plain,  Socrates,  that  it  will  be  twice  the  length." 

"  You  see,  Meno,  that  I  teach  this  boy  nothing,  I  only  question  him. 
And  he  thinks  he  knows  the  right  answer  to  my  question;  but  does 
he  know?" 

"  Certainly  not,"  replied  Meno. 

"Let  us  return  to  him  again." 


i88          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

"My  boy,  you  say  that  from  a  line  of  four  feet  long  there  will  be 
produced  a  space  of  eight  square  feet;  is  it  so?" 

"Yes,  Socrates,  I  think  so." 

"Let  us  try,  then."    (He  prolongs  the  line  to  double  the  length.) 

"Is  this  the  line  you  mean?" 

"Certainly."    (He  completes  the  square.) 

"How  large  is  become  the  whole  space?" 

"Why  it  is  four  times  as  large." 

"How  many  feet  does  it  contain?" 

"Sixteen." 

"How  many  ought  double  the  square  to  contain?" 

"Eight." 

After  a  few  more  questions  the  lad  suggests  that  the  line  should  be 
three  feet  long  since  four  feet  are  too  much. 

"If,  then,  it  be  three  feet,  we  will  add  the  half  of  the  first  line  to  it, 
shall  we?" 

"Yes."    (He  draws  the  whole  square  on  a  line  of  three  feet.) 

"Now,  if  the  first  square  we  drew  contained  twice  two  feet,  and  the 
second  four  times  four  feet,  how  many  does  the  last  contain?" 

"Three  times  three,  Socrates." 

"And  how  many  ought  it  to  contain?" 

"Only  eight,  or  one  less  than  nine." 

"Well,  now,  since  this  is  not  the  line  on  which  to  draw  the  square  we 
wanted,  tell  me  how  long  it  should  be." 

"Indeed,  sir,  I  don't  know." 

"Now  observe,  Meno,  what  has  happened  to  this  boy;  you  see 
he  did  not  know  at  first,  neither  does  he  yet  know.  But  he  then  an- 
swered boldly,  because  he  fancied  he  knew;  now  he  is  quite  at  a 
loss,  and  though  he  is  still  as  ignorant  as  before,  he  does  not  think  he 
knows." 

Meno  replies,  "What  you  say  is  quite  true,  Socrates." 

"Is  he  not,  then,  in  a  better  state  now  in  respect  to  the  matter  of 
which  he  was  ignorant?  " 

"Most  assuredly  he  is." 

"In  causing  him  to  be  thus  at  a  loss,  and  benumbing  him  like  a 
torpedo,  have  we  done  him  any  harm?" 

"None,  certainly." 

"We  have  at  least  made  some  progress  toward  finding  out  his  true 


QUESTIONING  189 

position.    For  now,  knowing  nothing,  he  is  more  likely  to  inquire  and 
search  for  himself." 

REFERENCES 

Fitch,  J.  G.,  The  Art  of  Questioning. 

Landon,  Joseph,  The  Art  of  Questioning. 

Strayer,  George  Drayton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Proc- 
ess, Ch.  XI. 

Parker,  Samuel  Chester,  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  Schools, 
Ch.XX. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PLANNING  THE  LESSON 

"'Notes'  should  be  to  the  lesson  what  the  artist's  careful  design,  or 
sketch  in  color,  is  to  the  finished  picture— a  sketch  containing  all  the 
essentials,  but  not  burdened  with  the  many  small  details  which  will 
come  out  in  the  work  itself." 

EXERCISE. — Recall  some  lesson  which  has  impressed  you 
deeply,  and  try  to  work  out  an  outline  of  it,  such  as  you 
think  your  teacher  must  have  followed  when  teaching  it  to 
you. 

When  you  have  read  this  chapter,  criticize  your  plan. 
Then  take  or  send  it  to  the  teacher  in  question,  for  comment. 
Find  out  the  usual  practice  of  this  teacher  with  regard  to 
lesson  plans. 

Purpose  and  value  of  the  lesson  plan. — Teachers  (like 
most  other  human  beings)  are  prone  to  quiddle,  to  flit  from 
one  petty  point  to  another  and  arrive  nowhere  in  particular. 
The  lesson  plan  compels  us  to  think  where  we  are  going,  and 
to  lay  down  a  direct  route  to  the  goal. 

Planning  a  lesson  is  much  like  planning  a  meal,  or  like  the 
physician's  writing  a  prescription  for  his  patient;  we  must 
keep  topmost  in  our  minds  those  for  whom  we  are  planning. 
Plans  must  vary  because  children  vary.  We  cannot  plan 
our  lessons  intelligently  until  we  know  how  nature  has 
planned  the  children.  Better  to  write  up  the  "plan"  of  the 
one  child  whom  you  find  it  difficult  to  bring  within  the 

*  Joseph  Landon,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching. 

190 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  191 

circle  of  your  influence,  to  try  to  see  his  little  life  from  his 
viewpoint,  to  find  what  forces  you  can  bring  to  bear  on  him 
to  reform  and  sweeten  his  behavior,  than  to  work  out  a 
thousand  " logical"  arrangements  of  dead  subject  matter 
for  "  the  child."  The  cook  must  know  well  the  tastes  of  the 
family  she  serves,  and  not  have  her  mind  centered  too 
strongly  on  the  many  mechanical  devices  of  the  kitchen.* 
What  the  lesson  plan  should  include. — The  essentials  of  a 
good  lesson  plan  are  listed  below. 

1.  Pwrjwse^  Make  clear  to  yourself  what  you  are  actually 
trying  to  dcfin  giving  the  lesson.     Further,  consider  the 
pupil's  purpose,  present  a  problem  that  will  appeal  to  him, 
an  aim  that  he  will  care  to  achieve,  a  motive  that  will  move 
him. 

2.  Subject  matter.    Hold  fast  to  the  fundamental  facts 
and  omit  all  others.    Arrange  the  essentials  as  clearly  and 
simply  as  possible. 

3.  Method.    Outline  what  you  propose  to  do,  step  after 
step. 

-~%TSpecial  devices.  Provide  apt  illustrations  and  well- 
framed  questions  to  apply  to  knotty  problems,  and  indi- 
cate the  use  of  outlines  or  summaries  at  strategic  points. 
Make  note  of  the  books,  models,  apparatus,  etc.,  to  be 
used.f 

The  brief  plan. — How  much  of  this  should  be  written  out 
in  actual  practice,  each  may  determine  for  himself.  Some 

*  In  many  practice  schools  the  mechanics  of  lesson  planning  is 
pushed  to  an  extreme.  One  is  tempted  to  assume  the  attitude  of  the 
stolid  traveler  who  remarked  as  he  critically  surveyed  Niagara  Falls, 
"Very  fine,  but  a  trifle  overdone!" 

f  When  planning  a  lesson,  it  is  well  to  array  your  class  before  you  in 
imagination,  as  the  successful  orator  so  often  composes  for  an  imag- 
inary audience.  If  there  is  anything  difficult  to  be  done,  such  as  the 
working  of  apparatus,  practice  it  in  private  first. 


IQ2          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

can  undoubtedly  teach  well  without  writing  anything.  But 
if  one  expects  to  repeat,  or  even  review  the  lesson,  it  is  wise 
to  make  note  of  such  things  as  cannot  readily  be  recovered,  a 
happy  illustration,  the  location  of  material,  an  unusually 
successful  method,  and  the  like. 

The  following  outline  furnishes  a  suggestion  of  what  may 
appear  in  a  nature-study  lesson.  But  even  this  could  be 
much  shortened.  The  outline  shows  the  skeleton  of  an  In- 
formation Lesson. 

A  STUDY  OF  COAL 

How  It  Got  into  the  Ground,  and  How  We  Get  It  Out 

Purpose.  Information  for  the  sake  of  appreciation  and  thought 
later  on. 

Materials.  Encyclopedia,  post  cards,  and  projector.  Specimens 
of  peat,  coal,  fossils,  etc.,  from  school  museum. 

Assignment.  Ask  pupils  to  talk  with  parents,  look  at  coal,  read 
whatever  they  can  find,  and  bring  pictures  if  possible. 

1.  «Question  children  on  what  they  have  found.    Has  anyone  been 
in  a  coal  mine?    Etc. 

2.  Why  is  coal  called  "buried  sunshine"?    Whence  the  heat  and 
light  we  get  from  this  black  "stone"?    Is  it  stone? 

3.  Tell  of  ancient  forests  of  great  ferns  and  trees,  fallen  and  covered 
by  mud.    Like  swamp.    (Refer  to  encyclopedia.)    Peat  bogs.    Speci- 
men of  peat.    Its  use  as  fuel. 

4.  Great  pressure  for  centuries.     (Blackboard  drawing  to  show 
strata.)    Sample  of  soft  coal.    Locomotive  smoke.    Discussion. 

5.  Final  change:  hard,  or  stone  coal.    What  are  stones  made  of? 
Coal  made  of  what?    "Dusky  diamonds."    Coal,  diamond,  and  lead 
in  pencil  all  made  of  carbon. 

6.  Pupils  explain  fossils  found  in  coal.    Examine  specimens. 

7.  Story  of  mines  and  mining.    Location  of  the  great  coal  fields. 
Follow  order  of  pictures  projected.    Show  children's  pictures. 

8.  Prepare  for  next  lesson:  appreciation.    Uses  of  coal.    Suppose 
coal  all  gone;  what  then? 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  193. 

The  detailed  plan. — Occasionally,  to  achieve  some  special 
purpose,  it  is  well  to  place  a  detailed  lesson  plan  on  paper. 
Such  a  procedure  is  wise  for  self-criticism,  and  still  more 
valuable  when  the  plan  is  to  be  presented  to  another  in 
order  to  instruct  him,  or  to  secure  his  criticism.  But  those 
who  criticize  such  plans  should  remember  that  there  is  wide 
room  for  individual  variation.  The  conscientious  young 
teacher,  like  the  bashful  boy  in  the  parlor,  often  feels  that 
there  is  but  one  correct  line  of  conduct,  that  he  is  very 
likely  to  miss  it,  and  that  in  every  other  direction  lies  re- 
proach. His  dominant  emotions  are  self-consciousness  and 
fear,  with  their  accompanying  inhibitions.  He  ought 
rather  to  feel  like  the  boy  on  the  ice  pond,  that  there  are 
many  courses  open, — only  keep  clear  of  the  danger  points. 
Epimetheus  should  teach  us,  as  well  as  Prometheus;  if 
the  candidate  is  encouraged  to  retrospect,  to  reflect  upon 
the  actual  result  of  his  lesson  and  report  upon  it,  perhaps 
in  writing,  his  imagination  will  work  at  a  livelier  pace  over 
his  next  effort. 

Following  is  an  example  of  a  detailed  plan  which  also 
illustrates  the  traditional  practice  of  using  one  column  for 
" matter"  and  a  parallel  one  for  "method."  Note  the 
frequent  use  of  the  blackboard.  This  is  an  example  of 
the  Lesson  for  Thought. 

HOW  CAUSE  A  BALL  TO  CURVE? 

Teacher's  object.  To  show  the  effect  of  resistance  of  air  on  a  ball 
that  spins  as  it  moves  along. 

Pupils'  object.  To  learn  the  science  of  curving  a  baseball  or  tennis 
ball. 

Materials.  Hollow  rubber  ball;  pan  of  water.  Also,  if  possible, 
baseball,  tennis  ball,  and  racquet;  rifle  bullets,  spherical  and  elon- 
gated; rifle. 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 13 


194         THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Matter  Method 


1.  How  many  have  observed 
balls  curving?    What  advantage 
has  a  player  who  can  control 
curves?    In  baseball?    In  tennis? 

2.  You  are  on  the  outer  edge 
of    the    sidewalk    and    meet    a 
crowd.    Pressure  on  one  side,  no 
resistance  on  the  other.    Result? 

Suppose  equal  crowd  each  side 
of  you;  then  what? 

3.  If  you  turned  clockwise  as 
you  moved  through  crowd,  what 
effect? 

4.  Similar,   when  ball  moves 
through  compact  crowd  of  drops 
of  water.    One  side  bumps  into 
drops  as  it  rolls  forward,  while 
the  other  constantly  yields. 

5.  Air  also  is  a  compact  crowd 
of  tiny  particles.     One  side  of 
spinning   ball   meets    resistance 
while  the  other  gives  way. 

6.  Statement  of  law  of  curving 
as  related  to  spin. 

"A  ball  moving  through  the 
air  curves  to  the  side  toward 
which  its  front  is  spinning." 

7.  Pitcher  starts  spin  by  roll- 
ing ball  off  his  fingers.    Difficulty 
of  throwing  a  "drop." 

8.  Tennis  ball  is   curved  by 
sliding  racquet  as  it  strikes  ball. 

"Slide  your  racquet  'just  the 
other  way '  from  where  you  want 
the  ball  to  go." 

9.  Application     of     principle. 


Arouse  interest.  Story  of  pro- 
fessor who  declared  curves  im- 
possible. Pitcher  throws  one. 
Professor:  "It  is  impossible — 
but  you  have  done  it!" 

Quick  blackboard  drawings, 
using  symbols  for  people. 


See  that  "clockwise"  is  under- 
stood. Drawing  to  show  that 
while  one  shoulder  is  opposed 
to  crowd,  the  other  yields  some- 
what. 

Spin  a  floating  ball  into 'a  pan 
of  water.  Observe  its  curving 
path.  Pupils  try  it.  Why  is 
this?  Diagram  on  board.  Try 
ball  spinning  the  other  way, 
and  with  no  spin. 

Further  and  varied  diagrams. 

Statement  drawn  from  pupils 
and  placed  on  board. 


Have  boys  demonstrate.  Dia- 
gram. Refer  to  mechanical 
pitcher  once  substituted  for  living 
one;  loss  of  interest. 

Demonstration.  Draw  out 
rule  for  sliding  stroke.  Discuss 
"cuts,"  sideward  and  downward 
curves. 

What  part  of  diagrams  would 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  195 

Matter  Method 

Could  we  curve  balls  if  there  be  removed?     Discussion.     Ex- 
were  no  air?  plain  the  professor's  error. 

Spherical  rifle  balls  shoot  less  Show  or  draw  bullets, 
accurately    than    the   elongated 
type.    Why? 

Grooves  in  the  rifle  barrel  cause  Show  rifle  or  make  drawing, 
the  bullet  to  spin  round  its  long  Diagram  to  show  why  elongated 
axis.  Does  such  spin  cause  the  bullet  does  not  curve.  Discus- 
bullet  to  curve?  Explain.  sion. 

The  lesson  for  appreciation.— A  plan  has  now  been  given 
for  an  information  lesson,  and  one  for  a  lesson  for  thought. 
Following  are  brief,  private-property  notes  of  a  lesson  de- 
signed to  arouse  appreciation  of  a  moral  principle. 

WHY  TELL  THE  TRUTH? 

1.  Get  children's  reasons:  to  please  parent  or  teacher,  etc. 

2.  Parents  want  it  to  please  fancy,  as  roses  are  planted  in  the  yard? 
Wrong  because  good  books  forbid,  or  do  good  books  forbid  because 
wrong? 

Best  for  us  to  tell  truth.    Why?    Get  children's  reasons. 

3.  Personal,  egoistic  reason  for  truthtelling.    Tell  (or  have  told)  the 
story  of  the  boy  who  cried  "Wolf!"    Experience  of  some  who  have 
lied  (including  my  own).    Get  children's  comments  and  summarize. 

4.  Social,  altruistic  reason.    Fable  of  clocks  that  told  different  time 
throughout  city — all  business  disordered.    Liars  like  wicked  clocks. 
Suppose  everybody  lied — no  special  privilege  permitted. 

Worst  punishment  of  liar:  having  no  one  to  lie  to.  Ostracism. 
Robinson  Crusoe.  Value  of  kindred,  friends,  society,  all  trustworthy.. 

5.  Summary. 

Drilling  for  skill. — Two  specimens  of  the  drill  lesson  ap-^ 
pear  below.  The  first  is  taken  from  White,*  who  quotes 

*  Emerson  E.  White,  Art  of  Teaching,  pp.  82,  83.  American  Book 
Company,  publishers.  Used  by  permission. 


196          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

from  "a  visitor  to  a  primary  school  in  one  of  our  large 
cities,"  an  account  of  a  lesson  actually  given — an  instruc- 
tive example  of  how  not  to  do  it! 

A  FAULTY  DRILL  LESSON 

The  pupil  at  the  head  of  the  class  rose  and  said :  7 ;  6  and  i  are  7 ; 
i  and  6  are  7,  and  this  was  repeated  by  sixty  pupils  in  turn,  each  rising. 
The  drill  proceeded: 

HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  5  and  2  are  7;  2  and  5  are  7 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  754  and  3  are  7;  3  and  4  are  7 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  one  6  in  7  and  i  over — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  one  5  in  7  and  2  over — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  one  4  in  7  and  3  over — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  two  3's  in  7  and  one  over — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  three  2Js  in  7  and  i  over — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7;  seven  I's  in  7 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  7  times  i — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  3  times  2  plus  i — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  twice  3  plus  i — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  once  4  plus  3 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  once  5  plus  2 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  once  6  plus  i — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
HEAD  PUPIL:  7  is  once  7 — repeated  in  turn  by  all. 
And  the  number  seven  was  exhausted! 

"It  is  evident,"  says  Dr.  White,  "that  the  result  of  this 
exercise  would  have  been  about  the  same  if  all  the  pupils  in 
the  class,  except  the  head  one,  had  been  parrots  with  the 
gift  of  imitating  sounds!  No  pupil,  except  the  one  at  the 
head,  was  obliged  to  see  a  number  relation  vocally  ex- 
pressed. The  drill,  if  desirable,  could  have  been  effectively 
conducted  in  one  third  of  the  time,  and  every  pupil  obliged 
to  see  each  number  relation." 

The  second  example  is  from  Strayer.* 

*  George  Strayer,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process.  Used  by 
permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company,  publishers. 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  197 

The  work  indicated  here  can  be  done  in  one  period.  The 
plan  is  given  as  an  illustration  of  the  principles  involved  in 
good  drill  work.  It  is  especially  necessary,  in  planning  for 
lessons  of  this  type,  to  be  ready  to  vary  the  exercises  in  order 
to  maintain  the  interest  and  attention  of  the  class.  Repeti- 
tion with  attention  is  what  counts  for  habit  formation.  The 
children  have  been  playing  a  game  in  which  the  score  se- 
cured by  throwing  a  bean  bag  in  squares,  numbered  from 
one  to  ten,  has  been  multiplied  by  two  and  later  by  three. 
The  class  has  been  divided  into  sides,  and  the  competition 
has  been  keen.  They  want  to  make  larger  scores,  and, 
therefore,  have  a  compelling  motive  for  studying  the  next 
table. 

A  PLAN  FOR  A  DRILL  LESSON 

Teacher's  aim:  To  teach  multiplication  by  four.  If  we  are  to  make 
larger  scores,  what  table  must  we  learn  next?  How  many  think  they 
can  learn  half  of  the  table  of  fours  to-day?  If  you  learn  it,  we  will 
play  our  game  for  ten  minutes. 

Pupil's  aim:  To  learn  the  multiplication  table  of  fours. 

Subject  Matter  Method 

4  X  4  =  1 6          Teacher  writes  the  table  on  the  blackboard, 
4X2=8      as  indicated  under  subject  matter. 
4  X  6  =  24          How  many  are  sure  they  know  the  first  two? 
4  X  3  =  12      Look  at  me  and  answer  as  I   ask   the   results. 
4  X  5  =  20      Don't  answer  unless  you  are  sure. 

Now  let  us  take  the  first  three.    Proceed  as 
before. 

I'll  erase  the  first  three.     Look  at  them  care- 
fully.    Now  write  them  on  your  tablets. 
4X4=        4X2=       4X6  = 
Do  not  write  the  answers  unless  you  are  sure 
you  are  right. 
Let  four  or  five  children  read  their  answers. 


198        THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 
Subject  Matter  Method 

Margaret  may  ask  for  answers.  She  drills  on 
the  first  three  combinations. 

The  other  two  are  easy  to  remember, — four 
times  three  we  know;  it  is  the  same  as  three 
times  four,  and  four  times  five  are  twenty  we  can 
all  remember.  Look  carefully;  I  am  going  to 
erase  them. 

Drill  by  teacher  on  last  two  combinations. 

All  combinations  put  on  board  again  and  read 
and  written  by  children. 

Robert  tries  to  discover  whether  there  is  any  girl 
who  has  forgotten  any  part  of  the  table. 

Katherine  tries  to  catch  the  boys. 

All  write  at  the  dictation  of  the  teacher,  supply- 
ing the  products. 

The  game  is  then  played.  When  anyone  makes 
a  mistake  in  recording  his  score  on  the  blackboard, 
his  side  is  penalized  the  amount  of  his  mistake. 

Possibly  all  the  plans  the  experienced  teacher  needs  for 
the  lesson  outlined  above  are  a  few  notes  concerning  the 
variations  to  be  introduced  from  time  to  time  in  the  drill. 
She  must  plan,  however,  to  put  zest  into  the  lessons  by 
means  of  the  variety  which  she  introduces,  and  she  must,  if 
she  is  to  get  the  best  work,  provide  some  motive  which  will 
make  the  drill  work  seem  worth  while  to  the  children. 

Plans  for  reviewing  history. — The  following  suggestions 
are  offered  for  the  review  of  a  chapter  or  epoch  in  history 
with  an  upper  grammar  or  high-school  class. 

1.  Let  each  write  up  one  or  more  of  the  leading  events  as 
if  he  were  reporting  for  a  daily  paper.    Teacher  may  make 
assignments,  "sending"  reporters  to  various  localities  to 
collect  news.    Class  discussion. 

2.  Write  an  article  on  the  chapter,  taking  as  an  ideal  a 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  igg 

magazine  article.     State  and  defend  your  views  on  the 
larger  questions  involved.    Class  discussion. 

3.  Find  answers  to  a  list  of  questions  prepared  by  the 
teacher. 

4.  Write  " extracts"  from  the  diary  of  your  hero  or 
heroine  of  this  time,  in  such  a  way  as  to  connect  the  chief 
events  and  show  his  (or  her)  view  of  them.    Class  criticism. 

5.  Let  each  personify  a  character,  telling  of  his  life  and 
deeds,  but  keep  his  name  unknown  to  the  class  as  long  as 
possible.    Class  may  criticize,  and  report  on  their  recogni- 
tion of  the  character. 

6.  Let  each  prepare  five   (or  more)    questions, — none 
dealing  with  petty  details,  placing  one  only  on  a  slip.    Con- 
test to  win  slips  by  giving  answers  satisfactory  to  teacher. 

7.  Give  complete  history  of  assigned  topics  of  this  chap- 
ter, as  slavery  or  a  political  party,  tracing  back  through  all 
previous  chapters  covered. 

8.  Show  relation  of  topics  of  this  chapter  to  those  now 
discussed  in  daily  papers. 

9.  Write  (if  -matter  is  pretty  well  mastered),  "a  piece  of 
possible  history/'  dealing  with  critical  points,  and  showing 
how  differently  all  might  have  turned  out  if — . 


SAMPLE  EXAMINATION  QUESTIONS.      NORTH  AMERICA.      GRADE    EIGHT 

1.  (a)  State  approximately  the  parallels  and  meridians  that  bound 
North  America,     (b)  What  political  divisions  are  crossed  by  the 
Tropic  of  Cancer? 

2.  Draw  from  memory  an  outline  map  of  this  continent,  and  name 
the  chief  indentations. 

3.  Name  the  principal  drainage  areas  and  the  largest  river  of  each. 

4.  Contrast  the  climate  and  products  of  Alaska  and  Mexico. 

5.  Name  important  minerals  and  the  regions  where  each  is  found. 


200          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

6.  What  are  the  chief  races  found  here?    Tell  why  you  think  these 
races  are  distributed  as  they  are,  and  not  otherwise. 

7.  Which  would  be  better,  to  push  the  wheat  belt  of  Canada  farther 
north  by  breeding  more  resistive  wheat,  or  to  discover  a  new  gold 
field  like  the  Klondike?    Why? 

8.  State  some  advantages  resulting  from  the  opening  of  the  Pan- 
ama Canal. 

9.  Where   arc   the   great   agricultural   regions?     Manufacturing 
regions? 

10.  Give  the  chief  Atlantic  and  the  chief  Pacific  seaports,  and  men- 
tion important  products  that  pass  through  each. 

FAULTY   EXAMINATION  QUESTIONS.      NORTH  AMERICA.      GRADE  EIGHT 

1.  Name  all  the  capes  and  bays  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

2.  How  far  does  the  Rio  Grande  bound  the  United  States? 

3.  What  is  Mexico  noted  for? 

4.  What  and  where  is  the  highest  peak  in  North  America? 

5.  Give  the  population  of  Halifax;  Havana;  St.  Louis;  Sitka. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Criticize  the  " faulty  examination  questions"  given 
above. 

2.  State  the  chief  faults  of  the  drill  lesson  quoted  from 
White  (p.  196).     Tell  how  you  would  drill  on  the  number 
seven. 

3.  You  are  teaching  in  New  York:  write  a  lesson  plan 
on  some  topic  connected  with  the  city,  as  its  geography  or 
history.    Rewrite  the  plan  from  the  standpoint  of  a  teacher 
in  Seattle,  Washington. 

4.  Write  the  plan  of  a  lesson  on  "Color"  (any  aspect  of 
the  general  subject),  to  be  taught  to  feeble-minded  children. 

Rewrite  the  plan  for  normal  pupils. 

Note. — State  how  much  knowledge  you  assume  these 
classes  to  have.,  Remember  that  the  first  thing  to  do  with 
most  feeble-minded  children  is  to  wake  up  their  senses  and 
-secure  some  kind  of  motor  response. 


rJ, 


PLANNING  THE  LESSON  201 

5.  When  a  lesson  has  been  taught,  how  can  you  tell 
whether  or  not  it  was  successful? 

6.  Would  it  be  wise  to  have  pupils  (say  in  the  seventh 
grade)  write  out  a  "Plan  for  Studying"?    Give  reasons. 

7.  Write  at  least  one  plan  for  each  kind  of  lesson,  in- 
formation, thought,  etc. 

8.  As  the  carpenter  works  from  a  blue  print,  so  must  the 
teacher  work  from  a  plan.    Criticize  this  argument. 

9.  How  long  should  a  cook  put  on  paper  a  detailed  plan 
of  each  meal  she  prepared?    Compare  with  teaching. 

REFERENCES 

Charters,  W.  W.,  Methods  of  Teaching,  Ch.  XXV. 
Landon,  Joseph,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  Ch.  IV. 
StjnyejT  George  Drayton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Proc- 
Ch.  XVI. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION 

"  Teaching  pupils  how  to  study — or  better,  how  to  educate  them- 
selves— is  obviously  as  important  as  teaching  them  to  know  certain 
facts  and  to  do  certain  things.  The  willingness  and  ability  to  study 
efficiently — to  educate  oneself  well — involves  (i)  haying  purposes  or 
aims,  (2)  putting  questions  to  oneself,  (3)  bringing  to  bear  upon  any. 
problem  whatever  relevant  facts  one  knows,  (4)  organizing  these 
facts  according  to  their  bearings  upon  the  problem,  (5)  searching  for 
more  in  the  writings  of  men  competent  to  inform  one  about  the 
problem  in  question,  (6)  judging  the  merits  of  the  suggestions  thus  re- 
ceived, (7)  observing  and  experimenting  in  first-hand  contact  with 
facts,  (8)  economizing  time  and  energy  in  the  triple  task  of  forming 
habits,  acquiring  skill,  and  memorizing  what  is  permanently  needed, 
(9)  using  the  knowledge  or  skill  or  interest  when  it  is  gained,  and 
cherishing  ideals  of  open-mindedness,  fairness,  accuracy,  thorough- 
ness, and  caution."  * 

EXERCISE. — Write  out  your  present  ideas  on  the  topic, 
"How  to  Assign  a  Lesson." 

The  greatest  thing  you  will  ever  teach  your  pupils  is 
that  they  can  get  along  without  you !  The  test  of  the  swim- 
ming pool  is  the  test  everywhere;  he  is  the  best  master  who 
can  teach  his  pupils  to  strike  out  alone.  He  was  a  wise 
Frenchman  who  insisted  that  his  object  was  to  make  him- 
self as  useless  as  possible  to  his  pupils. 

Books  and  education. — To  the  ordinary  observer  educa- 
tion is  a  kind  of  book  business.  So  often  do  we  resort  to 


*  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Education.     Used  by  permission  of  the 
author. 

202 


TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION  203 

books  for  wisdom  that  we  are  in  danger  of  mistaking  the 
book  for  the  wisdom.  "It  is  written"  has  come  to  mean, 
"It  is  true";  and  some  are  heedless  enough  to  attach  that 
meaning  to  the  phrase,  "It  is  printed." 

But  we  must  not  be  slaves  to  the  book.  Education  ex- 
isted long  before  books,  and  even  yet  it  should  always  be- 
gin without  them.  It  is  enlightening  for  every  teacher  to 
ponder  what  she  would  do  if  fire  or  flood  should  destroy  all 
books,  or  at  least  all  her  pupils'  books, — how  she  would 
contrive  to  continue  their  education  by  some  other  means 
than  the  assignment  and  recitation  of  lessons. 

The  book  as  a  substitute  for  the  teacher. — When  we  ex- 
plore a  new  and  somewhat  dangerous  country,  a  guide  is 
valuable  and  oftentimes  indispensable.  But  independence 
grows  of  experience,  and  a  guide  book  at  length  takes  the 
place  of  the  living  leader.  Having  acquired  skill  in  under- 
standing the  book,  we  can  travel  safely  alone. 

Education  is  the  exploring  of  a  country  that  is  new  to  the 
young  adventurer.  His  guide,  on  whom  he  is  at  first  utterly 
dependent,  is  the  teacher.  But  the  teacher's  daily  contact 
with  each  child  is  very  limited;  to  extend  her  presence,  to 
multiply  her  influence,  to  afford  aid  that  may  be  drawn 
upon  in  any  time  of  need,  she  provides  a  guide  book  in  the 
form  of  a  textbook.  It  would  be  altogether  desirable  if 
every  able  teacher  could  prepare  her  own  textbook,  a  per- 
sonal "first  aid"  that  would  tell  what  to  do  till  the  teacher 
comes.  As  it  is,  she  is  apt  to  bow  meekly  before  the  tradi- 
tional authority  of  whatever  appears  in  print.  It  is  all 
too  easy  for  her  to  believe  that  the  education  she  is  trying 
to  give  the  children  is  shut  up  in  the  book,  and  must  be 
wormed  out  of  it  in  some  way.  jTSut  the  art  is  in  the  artist, 
not  in  his  brushes  and  pigments^ 


204          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

The  first  studying  should  be  done  with  the  teacher. — 
The  guide  book  should  be  consulted  in  the  presence  of  the 
guide,  until  it  can  be  correctly  interpreted  in  his  absence. 
When  the  first  grade  child  learns  to  read,  he  gets  along 
most  happily  for  some  time  without  the  book.  When  at 
length  the  print  is  placed  in  his  hands,  he  and  the  teacher 
should  work  together  over  the  lessons,  until  he  shows  that 
he  is  ready  to  go  on  alone. 

Nor  should  this  study  recitation,  as  it  has  been  called,  be 
confined  to  primary  grades.  The  student  who  is  learning 
a  foreign  language  should  learn  the  pronunciation  of  its 
declensions  and  conjugations,  in  large  measure,  from  the 
lips  of  his  teacher;  and  instead  of  being  turned  loose  to  puz- 
zle out  his  own  translations  and  incidentally  fall  into  bad 
habits,  he  should  first  learn  "the  tricks  of  the  trade  "  by 
following  a  master  through  all  the  mental  operations  re- 
quired to  make  strange-looking  words  and  sentences  ac- 
tually mean  something  in  good  English. 

Frequently,  before  the  learner  can  appreciate  or  under- 
stand the  book,  he  must  be  put  through  a  course  of  apper- 
ceptive  development;  *  that  is,  he  must  have  some  actual 
first-hand  experiences  before  he  can  read  meaning  into  the 
words  that  refer  to  such  experiences.  The  student  who  has 
received  a  stunning  blow  from  the  opening  definitions  and 
discussions  of  some  old-fashioned  text  in  physics,  grammar, 
geometry,  or  psychology,  will  know  exactly  what  is  here 
referred  to.  The  first  duty  of  a  teacher  who  is  starting  such 
a  class  is  not  to  assign  a  book  lesson,  but  to  talk  to  and  with 
his  students  in  a  cordial,  informal  way,  until  they  under- 
stand, however  crudely,  the  general  situation  and  purpose; 

*  See,  in  Chapter  VII,  "Poverty  of  the  pupil's  mind,"  and  in  Chap- 
ter VIII,  "  Apperception  in  teaching." 


TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION  205 

to  give  experiments  and  other  experience  if  need  be, — and 
need  there  usually  is, — and  then  to  read  and  study  with 
them  some  portion  of  the  textbook,  until  he  finds  that  they 
can  master  it,  for  the  most  part,  alone. 

The  assignment  of  lessons. — Perhaps  the  most  necessary 
point  to  keep  in  mind  here  is  that  the  lesson  must  be  adapted 
to  the  pupil  at  his  stage  of  advancement.  Of  course  the 
teacher  cannot  act  intelligently,  unless  she  knows  both  the 
lesson  and  the  learner.  Next,  the  length  of  the  lesson  must 
be  determined  carefully  in  its  relation  to  the  ability  of  the 
pupil,  and  the  time  he  can  reasonably  be  expected  to  devote 
to  it.  This  is  of  especial  importance  in  schools  conducted 
on  the  departmental  plan,  for  each  teacher  must  recall 
constantly  that  several  other  teachers  also  are  assigning 
lessons  for  her  pupils.  There  is  danger  that  each  will  at- 
tempt to  magnify  his  office.  A  happy  method  of  adjustment 
is  the  determination,  in  faculty  meeting,  of  the  amount  of 
time  each  teacher  may  claim. 

One  of  the  most  fatal  methods  of  lesson  assignment 
consists  in  determining,  at  the  beginning  of  a  term  or  a  year, 
how  many  pages  of  text  shall  be  completed  in  this  period, 
and  then  dividing  the  number  of  pages  by  the  number  of 
recitations.  Not  only  are  pages  of  unequal  value,  but  the 
whole  process  is  likely  to  result  in  dawdling  or  forcing.  The 
same  danger  threatens,  when  a  number  of  differing  classes 
are  compelled  to  advance  at  the  same  pace.  Each  class, 
provided  it  does  faithful  work,  is  the  measure  of  what  it  can  do. 

One  of  the  best  means  of  insuring  the  mastery  of  the 
lesson  is  to  clear  up  its  precise  purpose.  Frequently  the 
pupil  fails  because  he  does  not  know  just  what  is  expected  of 
him.  The  dominant  purpose  of  the  task  can  often  be 
indicated  by  a  question  or  a  series  of  questions,  or  a  brief 


206          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

outline  for  the  direction  of  study  may  be  given,  or  signif- 
icant passages  in  the  text  may  be  marked.  In  addition, 
all  obscure  language,  or  unusual  difficulty  of  meaning  should 
be  made  plain  in  advance.  The  fundamental  excellence  of  all 
good  teaching  is  clearness. 

Teaching  pupils ""to  study. — The  only  one  who  knows 
thoroughly  the  science  of  studying  is  the  expert  psycholo- 
gist. To  attempt  to  teach  his  intricate  science  to  children 
is  folly.  But  we  can  practice  the  art  of  study  with  our 
pupils,  thus  heading  off  bad  habits  and  setting  up  good  ones. 
And  the  more  the  children  mature,  the  more  we  can  teach 
them  of  mental  self-management. 

The  most  general  method  of  attack,  one  which  it  is  safe 
to  encourage  in  dealing  with  any  ordinary  lesson,  consists 
of  three  stages,  (i)  gettijQLg.a-£Qrarjre^  (2) 

working  thoroughly  through  the  minor  steps  that  make 
up  the  body  of  the  task,  and  (3)  looking  back  over  the 
lesson  as  a  whole  to  make  sure'  that  all  parts  are  correctly 
related. 

(1)  The  pupil  may  well  be  encouraged  to  think  of  the 
lesson  as  a  range  of  territory  to  be  explored ;  it  is  well  to  see 
it  as  a  whole,  from  some  vantage  point,  first  of  all.    If  he  is 
to  read  a  chapter  or  a  section,  he  should  turn  to  the  table 
of  contents  and  see  where  and  how  this  assignment  stands 
with  reference  to  other  portions  of  the  book, — what  has  led 
up  to  it,  what  follows.    Next,  he  may  read  rapidly  over  the 
whole  assignment,  even  if  the  meaning  is  not  yet  perfectly 
clear  at  some  points.    Having  taken  such  an  airship  view, 
he  will  know  where  the  new  territory  abuts  on  old,  familiar 
ground,  and  so  be  less  likely  to  get  lost  in  details  when  he 
begins  the  actual  work  of  exploration. 

(2)  The  second  part  of  the  process  consists  in  working 


TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION  207 

over  the  smaller  units,  making  each  topic,  paragraph,  and 
sentence  deliver  its  meaning.  If  a  real  classic  is  being 
studied,  it  pays  to  work  with  dictionary  and  reference  book 
at  elbow.  This  searching  out  of  bypaths,  beating  of  bushes, 
and  turning  over  of  stones  may  continue  as  far  as  time  and 
purpose  warrant. 

(3)  Finally,  when  one  has  gained  the  hilltop  of  mastery, 
he  should  turn  and  make  a  careful  review  of  the  ground 
covered,  fixing  in  mind  irremovably  the  chief  landmarks. 
A  brief  outline  or  analysis  will  help  to  accomplish  this. 

The  habits  we  try  to  train  into  pupils  will  depend  on  the 
kind  of  lesson.  The  importance  of  pointing  out  the  precise 
purpose  of  the  lesson  at  the  time  of  its  assignment  has  been 
emphasized  above.  The  pupil  need  not  be  very  old,  before 
he  can  understand  whether  he  is  to  collect  facts  ("infor- 
mation")? or  work  out  a  problem  ("thought"),  or  master 
some  process  ("skill"),  or  form  an  estimate  of  something 
("appreciation"). 

Training  for  the  information  lesson  demands  that  the 
pupil  be  taught  (i)  how  to  find  and  collect  information,  use 
reference  books,  source  books,  etc. ;  (2)  how  to  organize  the 
material  collected;  (3)  how  to  commit  it  to  memory  most 
easily,  or  place  it  on  file  for  future  use.  * 

The  art  of  thinking  requires  that  pupils  habitually  (i) 
look  for  what  is  given  to  think  from;  (2)  consider  what  is 
demanded,  what  they  are  to  think  their  way  to;  (3)  search 
for  a  way  from  the  one  to  the  other. | 

The  precepts  most  necessary" in  working  for  appreciation 

*  See  Ch.  VII,  "Collecting  Mental  Material";  Ch.  IX,  "Remem- 
bering and  Imagining";  and  "The  Lesson  for  Information,"  as 
treated  in  Ch.  XIV. 

fSee  Ch.  X,  "Thinking";  and  "The  Lesson  for  Thought,"  as 
treated  in  Ch.  XIV. 


208          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

and  for  skill  have  already  been  presented.*  The  pupil 
must  catch  the  correct  procedure,  for  the  most  part,  by 
working  with  his  teacher  and  imitating  her  practice. 

It  is  evident  from  all  this  that  we  must  regard  our  pupils 
as  apprentices  in  the  art  of  learning,  and  we  must  spend 
many  a  period  in  practical  study  with  them,  instead  of 
merely  hearing  lessons.  Such  periods  are  not  wasted;  they 
are  like  the  time  the  mechanic  spends  in  sharpening  his  tools. 

Conditions  for  successful  study. — There  are  certain  phys- 
ical and  mental  conditions  for  study  which  every  teacher 
aims  to  secure  in  her  schoolroom,  and  which  every  learner, 
as  soon  as  he  is  capable  of  independent  work  at  home  or  in 
his  study,  should  be  exhorted  to  secure  for  himself.  It  is- 
well,  on  entering  either  schoolroom  or  study,  to  let  the  words 
"heat,  light,  air,"  flit  through  one's  mind  habitually,  and 
to  proceed  first  of  all  to  the  regulation  of  these  primitive 
necessities, — the  first  in  accordance  with  a  thermometer. 

Mentally,  one  should  be  (i)  frjggh,  (2)  comfortable,  (3) 
composed,  (4)  attentive,  (i)  The  fagged-out  student 
would  often  succeed  better  by  loafing  or  dozing  through  half 
his  study  hour,  in  order  to  spend  the  remainder  in  quickened 
accomplishment.  It  pays  the  chopper  to  keep  his  ax  sharp. 

(2)  It  is  evident  that  one  must  be  free  from  all  distracting 
discomforts,  such  as  may  arise  from  too  recent  eating,  or 
tight  clothing,  or  improper  furniture,  or  physical  ailment. 

(3)  We  have  learned  that  deep  thinking  and  turbulent  feel- 
ing tend  to  crowd  each  other  out;  it  is  well  if  one  does  not 
even  feel  too  feverish  an  interest  in  the  lesson.    If  fear, 
worry,  or  any  other  emotion  is  present,  it  must  be  calmly 
but  decisively  abandoned  to  death.     (4)  The  best  method 

*  See  Chs.  XI  and  XIII;  also  "The  Lesson  for  Appreciation,"  and. 
"The  Lesson  for  Skill,"  as  treated  in  Ch.  XIV. 


TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION  209 

of  insuring  the  desirable  mental  attitude  is  to  pfo^ffl^ 
nrnrnntlv.  quietly.  qflf*  cf-AaHfaafly  aKnuf  ffrf  fr™^—  "~ 
h^yjg.  Ine  engine  runs  better  as  it  warms  up. 

This  last  condition,  that  of  attention,  is  the  one  for  which 
all  the  others  exist.  Concentration  is  the  student's  word  of 
magic;  his  mind  should  thrill  with  the  subject  before  him, 
and  with  nothing  else.  He  must  learn  to  work  concentrat- 
edly  amidst  distracting  surroundings,  as  the  typist  or  teleg- 
rapher works  in  a  room  where  many  other  machines  are 
going;  as  the  business  man  reads  his  letter  or  carries  on  a 
personal  conversation  in  a  crowd,  if  necessary.  Conditions 
should  be  made  as  favorable  as  possible,  in  order  to  econo- 
mize nerve  energy,  but  the  pupil  must  learn  to  work  and 
win,  whatever  the  distractions  about  him.  The  surest 
guaranty  of  such  learning  is  a  heart  set  on  victory.  He  who 
makes  up  his  mind  to  "get  there  or  die  "  is  likely  to  live  to 
get  there. 

Books  other  than  the  textbook. — From  the  time  when  the 
pupil  has  learned  to  read,  he  should  be  encouraged  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  books  other  than  those  forced  upon  him. 
This  practice  should  begin  with  the  juvenile  lore  borrowed 
from  the  little  library  of  his  grade  or  room,  should  expand 
into  an  acquaintance  with  the  school  library,  spread  to  the 
library  of  his  town,  and  finally  embrace  the  largest  and 
choicest  collections  of  books  to  which  he  is  fortunate  enough 
to  have  access.  Those  schools  are  to  be  congratulated 
whose  town  library  will  cooperate  with  them,  set  apart 
books  for  their  use,  aid  in  guiding  the  student's  reading, 
teach  him  the  use  of  indexes,  and  in  general  make  itself  as 
educationally  influential  with  the  younger  generation  as 
with  the  older. 

As  the  student  at  length  finds  his  way  into  a  vocation,  he 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 14 


210          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

should  be  put  into  touch  with  all  the  chief  sources  of  infor- 
mation concerning  his  chosen  field,  including  government 
departments,  publishers,  and  the  leading  periodicals. 

Student  helps. — Onejs_ability  f or  practical^  ac^QniJilish- 
ment  depends  largely  on  taking  advantage  of  labor-saving 
contrivances  and  mechanical  aids.  The  average  student 
keeps  many  notes  on  vagrant  slips  of  paper,  or  buys  a  bound 
book  for  each  subject,  instead  of  procuring  a  single  loose- 
leaf  book  which,  with  suitable  markers,  would  serve  for  all 
classes  and  permit  him  to  re-arrange  and  permanently  file 
his  notes  as  he  pleased.  Further,  he  often  attempts  to  tran- 
scribe all  details,  or  else  lets  the  whole  matter  go  by  the 
board  and  records  nothing.  The  medium  method  of  catqh- 
ing  important  points  only  is  best.  In  collecting  notes  for  an 
essay,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  use  a  small  pad  or  loose-leaf  book, 
placing  a  single  note  only  on  each  leaflet.  The  leaves  can 
then  be  quickly  arranged  according  to  the  heads  of  the  out- 
line. The  use  of  library  cards  in  the  preparation  of  bib- 
liographies and  for  recording  the  names  of  books  to  be  pur- 
chased later;  of  a  simple  and  cheap  alphabetical  file  for 
stowing  clippings,  catalogues  and  other  matter  liable  to 
misplacement  or  loss;  even  such  simple  devices  as  clips  and 
binders  and  program  calendars,  and  the  marking  of  one's 
books  to  insure  quick  reviews  of  important  passages,  will 
all  make  a  difference  in  the  practical  efficiency  of  one  who 
is  learning  to  plan  and  execute  his  work  independently. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Should  pupils  be  encouraged  to  criticize  their  text- 
books?   Why?    Should  they  be  allowed  to  criticize  their 
teachers?    Their  teachers'  opinions? 

2.  Have  you  ever  had  lessons  too  long,  too  difficult,  or 
too  trifling?   Describe  your  feelings  in  each  case. 


TEACHING  SELF-EDUCATION  211 

3.  Do  you  know  of  any  instances  in  which  classes  have 
been  "rushed"  to  complete  work  in  a  set  time?     What 
were  the  results,  both  immediate  and  remote? 

4.  The  best  teachers  are  usually  said  by  their  pupils  to 
be  "good  at  explaining  things."    Why  is  this? 

5.  Have  you  thoughtfully  adopted  what  you  regard  as 
the  best  plan  of  note  taking? 

6.  Have  you  decided  which  periodicals  will  be  best  for 
you  to  subscribe  for  as  teachers?    How  can  you  determine 
this? 

7.  List  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  trying  to 
master  a  subject  without  a  teacher. 

8.  Resolved:  that  the  first  study  of  any  foreign  language 
should  be  carried  on  with  an  interlinear  translation.    De- 
bate this. 

9.  Have  you  a  thermometer  in  your  study?   Do  you  keep 
a  window  or  other  efficient  ventilator  open?    What  candle 
power  of  light  have  you? 

10.  Did   you   progress  most  satisfactorily   when   your 
teacher  confined  the  work  almost  wholly  to  a  single  book, 
or  when  you  had  no  single  book  to  rely  on,  but  were  referred 
to  many  sources  of  information?    What  practice  do  you 
advocate,  for  fairly  mature  pupils? 

REFERENCES 

Bagley,  William  Chandler,  Classroom  Management,  Ch.  XIII. 
Earhart,  Lida  B.,  Teaching  Children  to  Study. 
Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  The  Art  of  Study.  ± 
McMurry,  F.  M.,  How  to  Study. 

Strayer,  George  Drayton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process , 
Ch.  VIII. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS 

"It  is  the  custom  to  measure  intellectual  ability  and  achievement, 
as  manifested  in  school  studies,  by  marks  on  an  arbitrary  scale;  for 
instance,  from  o  to  100  or  from  o  to  10.  Suppose  now  that  one  boy  in 
Latin  is  scored  60  and  another  90.  Does  this  mean,  as  it  would  hi 
ordinary  arithmetic,  that  the  second  boy  has  one  and  one  half  times 
as  much  ability  or  has  done  one  and  one  half  times  as  well?  .  .  .  The 
same  difference  in  ability  may,  in  fact,  be  denoted  by  the  step  from 
60  to  go  by  one  teacher,  by  the  step  from  40  to  95  by  another,  by  the 
step  of  from  75  to  92  by  another,  and  even  by  still  another  by  the  step 
from  90  to  96.  Obviously  school  marks  are  quite  arbitrary,  and  their 
use  at  their  face  value  as  measures  is  entirely  unjustifiable.  A  90  boy 
may  be  four  tunes  or  three  times  or  six  fifths  as  able  as  an  80  boy."  * 

EXERCISE. — How  can  we  measure  the  ability  of  a  sixth- 
grade  boy  in  arithmetic?  If  we  give  him  an  examination, 
how  many  questions  are  necessary  to  constitute  a  fair  test? 
What  shall  be  the  percentage  value  of  each  question? 
Would  different  teachers  be  likely  to  agree  if  they  evaluated 
the  answers  independently?  Would  the  average  mark  of  a 
hundred  teachers  be  more  or  less  valuable  than  any  single 
mark?  Why?  If  a  second  boy  made  twice  as  high  a  mark, 
would  it  be  certain  that  he  knew  twice  as  much  about 
arithmetic? 

Measurement  as  a  means  to  progress. — Without  meas- 
urement, it  would  be  hard  to  build  either  barns  or  brains.  In 
dealing  with  the  objective,  the  environmental,  we  measure 


*  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Mental  and  Social  Measurements.    Used 
by  permission  of  the  author. 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  213 

everything;  in  dealing  with  the  subjective,  the  mental,  it 
was  long  thought  impossible  to  measure  anything.  But 
the  whole  psychological  world  has  for  years  been  agonizing 
itself  to  measure  mind,  and  with  some  success.  The  time 
may  even  come  when  it  will  be  possible  to  measure  off  a 
certain  amount  of  education  and  pay  for  it  by  the  piece ! 

We  have  seen  (in  Chapter  II)  that  sciences  are  either 
exact  or  approximate.  An  exact  science  is  always  a  science 
that  does  much  measuring.  Mathematics,  physics,  astron- 
omy, and  chemistry,  are  good  examples  of  this.  Compass 
and  ruler,  the  balance,  the  stopwatch,  and  other  means  of 
measuring  are  prominent  in  all  that  these  sciences  do. 
Can  education  become  an  exact  science?  It  can  if  it  can 
measure. 

Whenever  a  parent  wishes  to  know  what  he  may  expect 
from  the  schooling  of  his  child;  when  we  want  to  find  out 
how  much  talent  a  pupil  has,  and  for  what;  when  we  would 
like  to  know  which  of  two  methods  is  better,  or  how  much 
faster  pupils  would  learn  if  they  could  have  good  air  to 
breathe  instead  of  bad,  then  we  wish  that  education  could 
measure,  and  measure  "to  a  T." 

What  must  the  teacher  measure? — Many  educational 
measurements  fall  outside  the  schoolroom,  some  of  them  to 
the  superintendent.  Such  are  the  measurement  of  all  the 
money  the  school  district  can  put  into  its  schools,  the  money 
and  effort  that  go  into  each  department,  and  the  comparison 
of  cities,  schools,  classes,  teachers,  textbooks.  As  teachers 
we  want  to  measure  methods,  so  we  shall  not  have  to  fall 
back  on  vague  opinions,  such  as  "I  believe,"  or  "It  seems 
to  me."  We  should  help  the  time  to  come  when  we  shall 
know  which  method  to  use.  So  we  may  wish  to  know  the 
standing  of  this  year's  grade  as  compared  with  last  year's, 


214          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

whether  boys  or  girls  learn  faster,  and  the  like.  The  ordi- 
nary " marks"  and  "grades"  no  teacher  ever  escapes, — 
and  they  involve  measurement.  Let  us  see  just  what  it 
means  to  measure. 

The  nature  of  measurement. — Measurement  is  accurate 
comparison — so  accurate  that  it  requires  numbers  to  ex- 
press it  exactly.  ' '  The  father  is  taller  than  his  son, ' '  involves 
a  loose  and  inexact  comparison;  but  "The  father  is  one  and 
a  half  times  as  tall  as  his  son,"  is  a  real  measurement,  in 
which  the  son  is  used  as  a  unit.  But  the  father  could  be 
used  as  a  unit;  we  could  say,  "The  son  is  two  thirds  as  tall 
as  his  father." 

Processes  as  well  as  things  can  be  compared, — the  motion 
of  a  cannon  ball  with  that  of  a  horse,  or  the  turning  of  our 
watch  hands  with  the  apparent  movement  of  the  sun,  or 
my  memory  with  your  memory.  We  can  measure  the  speed 
of  a  boat  by  that  of  a  horse,  or  a  bicycle,  or  the  falling  of  the 
sand  in  an  hourglass,  or  a  flying  bird. 

Essentials  of  good  measurement. — The  essentials  of  good 
measurement  are  three: 

(i)  We  must  know  just  what  it  is  we  are  measuring.  If 
we  are  asked  to  measure  "a  stream  of  water,"  shall  we 
measure  its  width,  or  length,  or  speed  of  flowing,  or  the  area 
of  a  cross  section  at  some  point,  or  its  purity,  or  the  energy 
it  expends  on  a  mill  wheel?  One  of  these  measures  cannot 
take  the  place  of  another.  When  we  measure  "memory," 
is  it  best  represented  by  (i)  the  number  of  repetitions  neces- 
sary in  committing,  or  (2)  the  length  of  time  the  impressions 
last,  or  (3)  the  total  amount  that  can  be  reproduced  at  the 
end  of  a  given  time?  Also,  are  we  to  measure  memory  for 
music,  for  words,  for  tastes,  for  old  emotional  experiences, 
for  thoughts,  or  for  what?  If  we  are  to  say  that  one  stream 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  215 

is  twice  as  large  as  another,  or  that  one  man's  memory  is 
twice  as  good  as  another's,  we  must  define  exactly  what 
we  mean. 

It  often  becomes  necessary  to  define  the  conditions  under 
which  a  quantity  is  measured.  If  one  measures  his  memory 
first  under  ordinary  conditions,  and  then  again  after  a 
sleepless  night,  he  obtains  two  very  different  results.  Scien- 
tists generally  have  learned  to  specify  the  conditions  of  their 
measurements,  such  as  the  altitude  at  which  a  barometer 
reading  is  taken;  but  teachers  often  forget  this  precaution. 

A  certain  college  student  made  53  per  cent  in  one  test  in 
German  and  100  per  cent  in  the  following  one,  a  month  later. 
He  was  ill  when  the  first  test  was  given,  but  determined  not 
to  miss  the  exercise.  It  would  be  a  gross  wrong  to  insist  on 
examining  a  student  who  was  not  "in  condition."  One 
might  as  well  measure  a  stream  after  a  drought.  So  any 
teacher  who  will  carefully  call  back  the  experiences  of  her 
childhood,  with  its  short-lived  and  treacherous  memory  for 
school  subjects,  should  find  it  easy  to  explain  how  the 


*  "A  bit  of  personal  experience  illustrates  the  difficulty  of  eliminat- 
ing irregular  test  conditions,  and  the  futility  of  absolutely  following 
any  system  of  scoring.  On  one  of  my  out-patient  days,  I  had  exam- 
ined eight  patients,  one  after  the  other.  I  had  no  luncheon  and  was 
fatigued  physically  and  mentally.  At  5  o'clock  a  social  worker  in- 
sisted that  I  examine,  as  I  had  agreed  to  do,  her  1 5-year-old  patient. 
I  pleaded  weariness  and  disinclination,  but  finally  decided  to  give  the 
Binet  tests.  The  patient  had  waited  hours  for  her  examination  and 
was  tired  and  unhappy.  After  much  effort  she  utterly  failed  to  achieve 
the  10-  or  i  i-year  Binet  tests.  I  declined  to  give  an  opinion,  but  made 
another  appointment  for  the  next  morning,  when,  after  the  patient 
had  been  put  at  ease  and  got  acquainted,  she  readily  tested  up  to  her 
full  age.  The  result  the  night  before  was  really  a  record  of  my  own 
mental  state." 

Walter  E.  Fernald,  "  The  Diagnosis  of  the  Higher  Grades  of  Men- 
tal Defect,"  American  Journal  of  Insanity,  Vol.  LXX,  No.  3,  Jan., 
1914.  Used  by  permission  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Press. 


2l6  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

teacher  in  the  grade  below  "could  ever  have  passed,"  last 
June,  the  very  pupils  who,  here  in  September,  "can't  even 
do  what  they  are  supposed  to  have  learned  last  year!" 

It  is  essential,  then,  to  know  (a)  just  what  it  is  we  are 
measuring,  and  (b)  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  meas- 
ured, in  so  far  as  they  affect  the  result.  We  must  not 
measure  the  speed  of  the  wind  to-day  and  assume  that  the 
result  holds  good  for  yesterday.  Nor  can  we  measure  a 
child's  eyesight  or  moral  conduct  or  attainment  in  arith- 
metic this  year  and  be  sure  that  the  same  measures  will 
hold  for  next  year. 

(2)  We  must  have  a  reliable  standard  with  which  to  measure. 
We  measure  cloth  with  a  yardstick,  butter  with  a  pound 
weight,  time  by  the  movement  of  watch  hands,  knowledge 
by  the  examination  question.    If  the  yardstick  is  elastic, 
now  long,  now  short,  if  the  watch  ticks  off  first  a  quick  hour 
and  then  a  slow  one,  if  one  examination  question  is  harder 
than  another  but  each  counts  ten  per  cent,  then  there  is  as 
much  guesswork  in  the  result  as  there  is  variation  in  the 
standard. 

(3)  We  must  apply  our  standard  with  great  care.    If  we  are 
to  measure  cloth  we  must  place  the  end  of  the  yardstick 
where  the  cloth  begins,  leave  no  gaps  unmeasured,  and  go 
on  to  the  end  of  the  cloth.    If  we  are  to  measure  a  pupil's 
knowledge,  we  must  begin  where  the  knowledge  begins, 
leave  no  gaps  unmeasured,  and  go  on  to  the  limit  of  his 
knowledge. 

A  practical  problem  in  pedagogical  measurement. — A  boy 
has  handed  in  an  examination  paper  in  arithmetic:  (i) 
Precisely  what  are  we  trying  to  measure?  (2)  What  is  our 
standard  of  measurement?  (3)  How  shall  we  apply  this 
standard  so  as  to  measure  accurately? 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  217 

(1)  Is  this  examination  paper  designed  to  measure  the 
boy's  ability  in  the  whole  subject  of  arithmetic,  or  in  one 
topic,  chapter,  or  even  a  single  operation?    Shall  "effort" 
be  considered?    If  the  paper  is  legible,  but  not  neat,  shall  it 
be  marked  down,  that  is,  are  we  to  include  neatness  in 
measuring  arithmetical  ability?     Shall  very  good  or  very 
poor  attendance  during  the  month  make  any  difference? 
If  the  work  is  unsatisfactory,  say  at  the  opening  of  the  year, 
but  the  teacher  can  discern  signs  of  promise;  or  if  the  stu- 
dent is  likely  to  become  discouraged  over  his  low  mark  and 
continue  to  fail,  shall  the  mark  be  raised?   And  are  we  mark- 
ing the  paper  in  and  for  itself  alone,  or  are  we  to  make  in- 
ferences from  the  paper  as  to  the  nature  and  ability  of  the 
boy  who  produced  it,  and  mark  him? 

Theoretically  we  should  measure  one  simple  thing, — let 
us  say  it  is  proficiency  in  this  month's  work  in  arithmetic. 
Marking  the  paper  should  be  like  reading  off  the  position  of 
the  finger  on  a  scale.  If  other  matters  must  be  considered 
they  should  be  marked  separately  if  possible.  Thus  one 
often  finds  on  report  cards  a  special  column  for  "Neatness." 
Practically  the  mark  is  a  means  of  communication  between 
teacher  and  pupil  or  parent.  From  this  standpoint  the 
large  question  is,  What  does  the  message  mean  to  the  one 
who  gets  it?  It  would  be  wise  to  add  a  note  of  explanation 
to  report  cards,  and  it  might  be  well,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, to  allow  teachers  to  refrain  from  giving  a  mark. 

(2)  What  standard  have  we  by  which  to  measure  the  boy's 
proficiency?    Shall  each  question  be  regarded  as  a  unit,  or 
each  operation, — adding,  subtracting,  etc.?     On  a  ruler 
each  inch  is  equal  to  every  other  inch;  but  how  can  we  know 
that  one  question  or  operation  is  just  equal  to  every  other? 
Practically,  we  do  the  best  we  can  to  make  our  questions  of 


2l8          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

like  value.  Carefully  graded  questions,  such  as  are  found 
in  the  Courtis  tests,*  are  an  effort  to  establish  a  more  re- 
liable standard. 

Further,  we  usually  mark  according  to  a  scale  running 
from  zero  to  100.  We  should  be  able  to  represent  this  on 
paper  by  a  line  divided  into  ten  equal  parts,  as  follows : 


0  10      20     30     40      50     60      70     80     90      100 

This  is  correct  if  we  mark  that  only  which  appears  on  the 
paper.  But  everyone  knows  how  much  easier  it  is  to  pass 
from  zero  to  10,  or  from  40  to  50,  or  from  70  to  80,  than 
is  to  climb  from  90  to  100.  If  then  the  mark  includes  an 
estimate  of  effort,  each  succeeding  per  cent  will  be  longer  as 
we  approach  100,  and  our  scale  will  appear  somewhat  as 
below: 

1  i       i      i       i       i        i         i          i          i  ii 

O  10  20  30  40  50   60    70    80    90       98  100 

If  two  boys  start  with  equal  ability,  but  one  works  hard 
enough  to  win  100  while  the  other  reaches  50,  the  first  has 
worked  much  more  than  twice  as  hard  as  the  second,  and 
deserves  much  more  than  twice  as  much  "credit."  f 

*  See  the  References  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 

f  "The  student  of  telegraphy  may  have  little  trouble  in  'sending' 
ten  or  fifteen  words  a  minute,  but  to  increase  his  speed  to  the  point 
where  he  can  send  twenty  or  thirty  seems  to  take  much  more  than 
double  the  time  and  effort  required  for  the  simpler  achievement.  The 
young  teacher  may  quickly  reach  the  point  where  her  supervisor  will 
grade  her  instruction  and  discipline  as  *B,'  but  years  of  strenuous  and 
persistent  work  may  be  necessary  before  the  grade  month  after 
month  is  recorded  as  'A  plus.'"  (Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Be- 
havior, p.  177.  Used  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company, 
publishers.) 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  219 

It  appears  that,  if  we  are  measuring  effort,  or  rate  of  im- 
provement, a  per  cent  is  not  a  constant  unit. 

Finally,  we  should  consider  whether  the  "  100"  which  we 
have  fixed  upon  as  the  limit  of  perfection  has  been  standard- 
ized by  wide  and  careful  use,  and  so  is  accepted  in  other 
schools;  or  whether  it  is  merely  our  own  idea,  carried  in  our 
heads,  and  so  subject  to  change.  *  Even  good  teachers 
sometimes  permit  each  class  to  fix  its  own  standard,  grading 
a  few  of  the  best  pupils  "A,"  and  distributing  the  others 
through  the  lower  grades.  The  best  pupil  in  each  class, 
whatever  his  attainment,  sets  the  standard  for  that  class. 
This  makes  it  easier  to  arrange  the  papers  in  order  from  best 
to  poorest,  which  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  find  rank  within 
the  class.  Such  a  method  is  satisfactory  if  we  wish  merely  to 
award  a  prize  to  the  one  of  highest  rank;  but  it  fails  to  fur- 
nish a  satisfactory  standard  by  means  of  which  to  compare 
class  with  class  or  school  with  school. 

(3)  How  shall  we  apply  our  standard  so  as  to  measure 
accurately?  If  the  boy  can  make  zero  in  our  examination 
and  still  know  anything  about  the  subject,  we  are  not 
measuring  his  whole  attainment ;  a  part  of  it  lies  below  our 
zero.  In  other  words,  the  examination  is  too  hard.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  he  can  reach  our  highest  mark,  say  100,  with- 
out exhausting  his  power,  again  we  fail  to  measure  it  all 
The  situation  is  like  that  of  weighing  a  2oo-pound  man  on  a 
loo-pound  scale.  The  examination  is  too  easy. 

Further,  there  are  probably  great  gaps  in  the  boy's  attain- 
ment which  are  left  unmeasured.  The  ordinary  examina- 
tion is  not  so  much  like  measuring  a  line  from  end  to  end 


*  Professor  Josiah  Royce  of  Harvard  has  humorously  suggested  that 
students  of  various  grade  be  kept  on  hand  as  standards  by  which  to 
measure  our  classes,  as  we  keep  our  yardsticks  to  measure  cloth! 


220          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

as  it  is  like  picking  a  few  random  samples  from  a  crate  of 
eggs  to  test  the  quality  of  the  whole  crate.  Perfect  thor- 
oughness and  fairness  would  require  that  we  open  every 
egg.  Perfect  thoroughness  and  fairness  in  an  examination 
would  require  the  asking  of  every  possible  question. 

Suppose  the  boy  has  given  an  answer  that  is  partly  cor- 
rect, perhaps  showing  the  right  method  but  a  wrong  answer. 
How  much  is  that  worth?  It  is  surely  better  than  no  an- 
swer, as  an  egg  not  strictly  fresh  is  better  than  no  egg. 
Besides,  all  the  untested  eggs  and  answers  whose  sample  is 
found  but  partly  good  may  themselves  be  thoroughly  good.* 

What  can  we  do? — We  cannot  yet  measure  the  school- 
room attainment  of  our  pupils  with  great  accuracy.  But 
we  can  at  least  try  to  keep  clear  as  to  (i)  what  we  are  meas- 
uring, (2)  what  our  standard  of  measurement  is,  and  (3)  how 
we  shall  apply  the  standard.  If  our  marks  in  any  subject 
are  to  be  influenced  by  neatness,  spelling,  effort,  and  the 
like,  we  should  tell  our  pupils  so  frankly.  Perhaps  one  might 
even  fairly  include  class  attendance,  if  the  fact  was  under- 
stood by  all.  Of  course,  the  more  things  we  try  to  include 
under  one  mark,  the  less  accurate  that  mark  will  be. 

Many  praiseworthy  efforts  are  being  made  to  establish 
standards  for  us.  Such  are  Hillegas's  "Scale  for  merit  in 
English  composition,"  and  Thorndike's  "  Grapheme ter."  f 
Perhaps  some  day  we  can  have  phonograph  records  of  ex- 
emplary reading,  oral  language,  song,  declamation,  and 

*  The  practice  of  allowing  no  credit  for  an  answer  that  is  partly 
right,  is  unfair.  It  is  like  declaring  that  six  inches  is  not  a  foot,  and  is 
therefore  zero.  We  should  conscientiously  give  credit  for  such  virtue 
as  the  answer  manifestly  contains. 

f  For  both,  see  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Education,  §  49.  Those  who 
read  French  will  find  Binet  and  Simon's  Educational  Ready  Reckoner 
interesting.  See  Alfred  Binet,  Les  id6es  modernes  sur  les  enfants,  p.  27. 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  221 

topical  recitations  for  each  grade,  with  standard  papers  in 
arithmetic,  spelling,  etc.  Such  standards,  well  worked  out 
by  a  committee  of  psychologists  and  educators,  and  distrib- 
uted over  the  country,  would  be  of  great  value. 

For  measuring  inborn  ability  (as  contrasted  with  attain- 
ment, which  results  from  training),  we  have  the  Binet  tests, 
and  others  too  numerous  to  mention.  (See  References  at 
the  end  of  the  chapter.) 

The  expected  distribution  of  marks  in  a  class. — If  we 
collect  a  thousand  men  at  random,  the  mathematician  can 
tell  us  in  advance  about  how  many  of  the  thousand  will 
measure  six  feet  in  height,  how  many  five  feet  eleven  inches, 
and  so  on  for  all  the  heights  there  are.  Similarly  he  can  cal- 
culate the  number  of  the  general  population,  or  of  a  large 
school,  or  a  body  of  teachers, — who  are  likely  to  stand  high 
in  any  trait,  the  number  of  mediocres,  and  the  lows.  This 
is  of  special  interest  to  teachers,  for  it  can  be  applied  to 
examination  marks  in  some  classes.  Thus  we  find  Dear- 
born saying  that  if  we  divide  the  base  line  of  a  theoretical 
curve  into  five  equal  parts  in  order  to  secure  the  same  range 
of  abilities,  we  should  secure  the  following  percentages  in 
each  grade  in  a  normal  distribution:  * 


A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

Excellent 

Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Failure 

2% 

23% 

50% 

23% 

2% 

In  a  class  of  100  pupils,  then,  we  should  expect  to  find  about 
two  A's,  23  B's,  and  so  on.  It  is  well  for  teachers  to  know 
this  as  a  general  guide  in  marking.  It  is  well  to  know  also 
that  it  cannot  be  applied  safely  to  small  classes  or  specially 
selected  groups. 

*  Walter  Fenno  Dearborn,  School  and  University  Grades,  p.  17. 


222  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

At  the  opening  of  this  chapter,  it  was  said  that  education 
can  become  exact  if  it  can  measure.  While  it  is  difficult, 
as  shown  above,  to  make  any  single  measurement  accur- 
ately, yet  we  can  reach  a  reliable  result  through  many 
approximate  measurements.  But  a  discussion  of  this  topic 
would  carry  us  beyond  our  present  purpose. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  What  is  the  best  way  to  find  the  excellence  of  oral 
reading?    Of  silent  reading?    How  preserve  a  fixed  stand- 
ard in  each  case? 

2.  Do  you  defend  the  absolute  standard  of  marking,  or 
the  practice  of  using  a  different  standard  for  each  class, 
according  to  its  ability?    Why? 

3.  Show  some  differences  between  serving  as  a  judge  at  a 
speaking  contest  and  serving  similarly  at  a  jumping  contest. 
In  the  first  case,  need  the  judge  be  himself  a  speaker?    In 
the  second,  need  he  be  a  jumper?    Why? 

4.  What  would  be  the  best  way  to  find  out  whether  "  the 
schools  used  to  be  away  ahead  of  what  they  are  now,"  or 
whether  "  writing  and  spelling  were  twice  as  good  twenty 
years  ago"? 

5.  "  What,  you  got  a  hundred  in  arithmetic  this  month? 
Then  you  must  know  it  all!    You  won't  have  to  study  it 
any  more."    Where  is  the  error  in  such  a  remark? 

6.  How  would  you  measure  the  relative  values  of  two 
methods  of  teaching  reading,  or  fractions?    (i)  Just  what 
are  you  going  to  measure,  (2)  what  shall  be  your  standard, 
and  (3)  how  can  you  apply  it? 

7.  For  many  purposes,  approximate  measurements  are 
sufficient.   Should  we  strive  for  great  accuracy  when  assign- 
ing marks  to  pupils?    Why? 

8.  Do  you  think  it  wise  to  determine  in  advance  that 
daily  recitation  shall  count  for  three  fourths,  examination 


PEDAGOGICAL  MEASUREMENTS  223 

one  fourth,  etc.,  in  making  up  grades;  or  is  it  better  to  have 
no  fixed  rule,  but  assign  each  mark  according  to  the  merits 
of  the  individual  case?  Why? 

9.  When  several  teachers  independently  grade  the  same 
paper,  their  marks  sometimes  vary  considerably.    Why  is 
this? 

10.  Should  a  teacher  know  whose  paper  she  is  marking? 
Can  she  not  mark  with  greater  justice  if  she  does  have  full 
knowledge?     Discuss  this. 

11.  Should  attendance  be  allowed  to  influence  class 
standing?    Why? 

12.  A  bright  student  who  has  been  out  of  school  for  some 
time  enters  a  class  rather  late  in  the  term,  does  a  great  deal 
of  poor  work,  but  at  the  end  of  the  term  is  leading  the  class. 
Should  his  previous  poor  work  be  considered  in  making  up 
his  term  average?    Why? 

13.  What  is  the  value,  from  the  standpoint  of  pedagogical 
measurement,  of  seeing  exhibitions  of  work  done  in  other 
schools?     Should  you  like  to  have  samples  published  in 
educational  journals  and  books? 

REFERENCES 

Courtis,  S.  A.,  Courtis  Tests  in  Arithmetic.  (Obtained  from 
the  author,  82  Eliot  St.,  Detroit,  Mich.) 

Dearborn,  Walter  Fenno,  School  and  University  Grades.  (Bul- 
letin No.  368,  University  of  Wisconsin.) 

Galton,  Francis,  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty,  article  on 
"Statistical  Methods." 

Thorndike,   Edward  L.,  Mental  and  Social  Measurements. 

,  Education. 

Whipple,  Guy  Montrose,  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical 
Tests.  (Revised  Edition.) 


PART  FOUR 

TEACHING  AS   CONDITIONED 
BY    SUBJECT     MATTER 


Science  and  Art  of  Teach. — 15 


228  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

attitude  toward  teachers,  classmates,  surroundings,  etc. 
Arrange  the  second  list  in  the  order  of  benefit  received  from 
these  branches.  How  do  the  two  orders  compare?  Ask 
some  of  your  mature  friends  to  make  similar  lists  for  you. 

We  found  (in  Chapter  III)  that  method  in  teaching 
depends  on  (i)  the  child,  (2)  the  teacher,  (3)  the  world,  and 
(4)  the  educational  ideal.  We  have  studied  (in  Part  Two) 
"Method  as  Determined  by  the  Nature  of  the  Child,"  and 
(in  Part  Three)  '  'Method  as  Related  to  the  Teacher."  We 
now  take  up  "Teaching  as  Conditioned  by  Subject  Matter." 
This  subject  matter  is  found  in  the  program  of  studies. 
The  program  of  studies  is  the  teacher's  kit  of  tools.  As  such, 
we  should  respect  it  and  learn  to  use  it  as  its  nature  de- 
mands; but  we  should  not  reverence  it,  or  regard  it  as 
changeless  or  more  powerful  than  ourselves.  Like  other  frail 
things  of  human  origin,  it  is  made  by  somebody,  for  some- 
thing. Who  is  the  somebody?  What  is  the  something? 
How  can  we  best  use  these  branches  of  study  to  achieve 
our  educational  ideal,  to  develop  each  pupil  according  to 
his  nature,  so  as  to  make  him  most  useful  socially? 

The  program  of  studies  represents  "  the  world." — It 
might  be  ideal  if  we  could  compress  all  the  space  and  time 
known  to  us  into  the  limits  of  a  child's  experience.  Let  him 
watch  the  formation  of  our  solar  system,  help  build  the 
tower  of  Babel  and  invent  a  language,  grow  up  as  fast  as 
arithmetic  and  geometry  developed  instead  of  being  born  a 
few  centuries  behind  and  struggling  to  catch  up,  participate 
in  the  painting  of  all  pictures,  repeat  all  inventions,  sail 
and  suffer  with  Columbus,  and  finally  vote  at  the  next 
election.  Granted  a  brain  which  could  take  in  all  that  and 
assimilate  it,  and  our  graduate  of  the  university  of  the  world 
would  far  outrank  all  living  men. 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  229 

Such  a  curriculum,  if  ideal  at  all,  must  remain  nothing 
but  an  ideal.  Even  if  the  material  were  at  our  command r 
no  mind  could  master  it  all;  representative  parts  only  can 
be  appropriated.  No  one  head,  even  the  greatest,  contains 
all  the  science,  or  the  literature,  or  the  history  of  the  world, 
or  even  one  science,  one  literature,  the  history  of  one  coun- 
try. As  we  cannot  all  assemble  at  our  state  capital  to  partic- 
ipate in  governmental  affairs,  but  must  choose  representa- 
tives who  stand  for  us,  so  we  cannot  take  all  the  world  into 
our  heads,  or  our  hearts,  or  our  schools,  but  must  choose 
certain  representative  knowledges  and  bits  of  skill,  type 
studies  which  stand  for  a  great  deal  that  we  shall  never 
master,  mere  tastes  and  samples  of  great  stores  of  good 
things. 

What  this  world  knowledge  is. — Where  does  the  world 
get  this  mental  wealth  from  which  we  select  representative 
parts  for  our  courses  of  study?  We  have  already  seen  (in 
Chapter  I)  that  if  men  want  to  survive,  they  must  beat 
nature  at  her  own  game,  so  to  speak.  At  least  they  must 
understand  and  perhaps  control  some  of  her  operations. 
Man  wants  food:  he  learns  how  to  facilitate  its  growth  from 
the  earth.  He  needs  clothing :  he  learns  to  card,  spin,  weave, 
sew:  He  wants  shelter:  he  learns  to  chop,  quarry,  build. 
All  our  knowledge  has  come  from  our  needs,  either  such  as 
the  grosser  ones  mentioned,  or  the  more  subtle  need  to  know 
for  the  pure  sake  of  knowing. 

Having  made  a  place  for  himself  in  the  world  and  ac- 
quired a  little  leisure,  and  having  done  so  much  and  learned 
so  much  that  he  or  his  posterity  was  in  danger  of  forgetting 
and  losing  something  of  value,  he  began  to  record  the  big 
things  on  stone,  wax,  paper,  by  means  of  knotted  strings, 
and  in  other  ways. 


228  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

attitude  toward  teachers,  classmates,  surroundings,  etc. 
Arrange  the  second  list  in  the  order  of  benefit  received  from 
these  branches.  How  do  the  two  orders  compare?  Ask 
some  of  your  mature  friends  to  make  similar  lists  for  you. 

We  found  (in  Chapter  III)  that  method  in  teaching 
depends  on  (i)  the  child,  (2)  the  teacher,  (3)  the  world,  and 
(4)  the  educational  ideal.  We  have  studied  (in  Part  Two) 
"Method  as  Determined  by  the  Nature  of  the  Child,"  and 
(in  Part  Three)  "Method  as  Related  to  the  Teacher."  We 
now  take  up  "Teaching  as  Conditioned  by  Subject  Matter." 
This  subject  matter  is  found  in  the  program  of  studies. 
The  program  of  studies  is  the  teacher's  kit  of  tools.  As  such, 
we  should  respect  it  and  learn  to  use  it  as  its  nature  de- 
mands; but  we  should  not  reverence  it,  or  regard  it  as 
changeless  or  more  powerful  than  ourselves.  Like  other  frail 
things  of  human  origin,  it  is  made  by  somebody,  for  some- 
thing. Who  is  the  somebody?  What  is  the  something? 
How  can  we  best  use  these  branches  of  study  to  achieve 
our  educational  ideal,  to  develop  each  pupil  according  to 
his  nature,  so  as  to  make  him  most  useful  socially? 

The  program  of  studies  represents  "  the  world." — It 
might  be  ideal  if  we  could  compress  all  the  space  and  time 
known  to  us  into  the  limits  of  a  child's  experience.  Let  him 
watch  the  formation  of  our  solar  system,  help  build  the 
tower  of  Babel  and  invent  a  language,  grow  up  as  fast  as 
arithmetic  and  geometry  developed  instead  of  being  born  a 
few  centuries  behind  and  struggling  to  catch  up,  participate 
in  the  painting  of  all  pictures,  repeat  all  inventions,  sail 
and  suffer  with  Columbus,  and  finally  vote  at  the  next 
election.  Granted  a  brain  which  could  take  in  all  that  and 
assimilate  it,  and  our  graduate  of  the  university  of  the  world 
would  far  outrank  all  living  men. 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  229 

Such  a  curriculum,  if  ideal  at  all,  must  remain  nothing 
but  an  ideal.  Even  if  the  material  were  at  our  command r 
no  mind  could  master  it  all;  representative  parts  only  can 
be  appropriated.  No  one  head,  even  the  greatest,  contains 
all  the  science,  or  the  literature,  or  the  history  of  the  world, 
or  even  one  science,  one  literature,  the  history  of  one  coun- 
try. As  we  cannot  all  assemble  at  our  state  capital  to  partic- 
ipate in  governmental  affairs,  but  must  choose  representa- 
tives who  stand  for  us,  so  we  cannot  take  all  the  world  into 
our  heads,  or  our  hearts,  or  our  schools,  but  must  choose 
certain  representative  knowledges  and  bits  of  skill,  type 
studies  which  stand  for  a  great  deal  that  we  shall  never 
master,  mere  tastes  and  samples  of  great  stores  of  good 
things. 

What  this  world  knowledge  is. — Where  does  the  world 
get  this  mental  wealth  from  which  we  select  representative 
parts  for  our  courses  of  study?  We  have  already  seen  (in 
Chapter  I)  that  if  men  want  to  survive,  they  must  beat 
nature  at  her  own  game,  so  to  speak.  At  least  they  must 
understand  and  perhaps  control  some  of  her  operations. 
Man  wants  food:  he  learns  how  to  facilitate  its  growth  from 
the  earth.  He  needs  clothing :  he  learns  to  card,  spin,  weave, 
sew:  He  wants  shelter:  he  learns  to  chop,  quarry,  build. 
All  our  knowledge  has  come  from  our  needs,  either  such  as 
the  grosser  ones  mentioned,  or  the  more  subtle  need  to  know 
for  the  pure  sake  of  knowing. 

Having  made  a  place  for  himself  in  the  world  and  ac- 
quired a  little  leisure,  and  having  done  so  much  and  learned 
so  much  that  he  or  his  posterity  was  in  danger  of  forgetting 
and  losing  something  of  value,  he  began  to  record  the  big 
things  on  stone,  wax,  paper,  by  means  of  knotted  strings, 
and  in  other  ways. 


230 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 


Much  of  value  has  no  doubt  been  lost;  but  the  more  im- 
portant the  knowledge  or  skill,  the  more  likely  was  it  to  be 
preserved,  either  by  the  art  of  scribes  and  printers,  or  by 
unceasing  practice.  It  is  this  mighty  bulk,  then;  inherited 
from  the  past,  together  with  the  present  world  and  all  its 
activities,  from  which  we  choose  the  material  for  our  curric- 
ulums. 

A  schematic  view  of  all  knowledge. — Partly  because 
various  interests,  such  as  those  in  science,  art,  and  history, 
tend  naturally  to  separate  somewhat,  partly  for  the  sake 
of  systematic  study,  the  whole  kingdom  of  our  educational 
possessions  is  divided  into  provinces,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 


Science,  Physical 
and  Mental 


History,  Civics, 
Sociology,  ate-, 


It  must  of  course  be  understood  that  these  fields  of  knowl- 
edge are  not  sharply  separated  from  each  other  so  far  as 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  231 

subject  matter  is  concerned.  The  human  body,  for  instance, 
may  be  worked  over  by  natural  science,  or  mathematically, 
or  historically,  or  linguistically,  or  artistically,  or  philo- 
sophically. The  chief  difference  is  one  of  interest,  need, 
purpose. 

At  the  heart  of  all  stands  philosophy,  whose  purpose  is 
to  criticize  and  unify  and  systematize  the  whole,  to  turn 
all  these  fragments  into  a  universe,  to  give  us  one  grand 
view  of  everything  that  exists,  taken  together. 

Should  each  child  work  in  all  these  departments  con- 
stantly?— Below  is  shown  the  form  of  school  organization 
which,  until  recently,  prevailed  almost  everywhere  through- 
out the  United  States: 

Kind  of  school  Grades  or  years 

Elementary  1  Primar>r  ''  2'  3'  4 

(  Grammar  5,  6,  7,  8 

Secondary        High  9,  10,  n,  12 

However,  it  was  the  all-too-common  experience  that 
this  system  left,  between  grammar  school  and  high  school, 
a  break,  or  "gap,"  across  which  many  pupils  failed  to 
make  their  way.  Accordingly,  there  is  now  a  strong  and 
commendable  tendency,  already  effective  in  wide  areas,  to 
organize  grades  seven,  eight,  and  nine  into  the  Junior  High 
School.  This  makes  the  plan  appear  as  below: 

Kind  of  school  Grades  or  years 

( Primary  i,  2,  3 

Elementary  •<  J .. 

( Intermediate  4,  5,  6 

(Junior  High  7,8,9 

'     (High  (or  "Senior  High")     10,  n,  12 


232          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Since  the  purpose  of  the  curriculum  is  to  introduce  the 
child  to  his  world,  curriculum  makers  often  assume  that 
each  of  the  departments  of  knowledge  (named  in  the  dia- 
gram) should  be  represented  by  one  or  more  branches  dur- 
ing each  year  of  the  pupil's  school  life.* 

To  give  the  pupil  a  chance  to  develop  in  all  these  ways  is 
certainly  good;  but  to  insist  that  he  shall  expand  constantly 
and  equally  in  all  directions  may  do  violence  to  his  native 
interests  and  really  hinder  his  development. 

Who  should  make  curriculums? — The  answer  is,  (i)  he 
who  best  knows  the  child,  (2)  he  who  best  knows  the  world, 
and  (3)  he  who  best  knows  the  educational  ideal  and  how  to 
attain  it.  He  should  also  know  himself  well  enough  to  avoid 
the  common  blunder  of  emphasizing  his  favorite  branches. 
The  mathematician  would  have  everybody  thoroughly 
dosed  with  mathematics;  the  musician  cannot  believe  that 
the  unmusical  are  truly  educated.  It  would  be  wise  to 
assemble  specialists  in  the  lines  enumerated,  and  let  the 
curriculum  be  their  joint  product. 

When  it  became  common  for  each  school  system  to  em- 
ploy a  superintendent,  he  grew  to  be,  in  many  instances,  a 
man  of  authority,  who  handed  out  from  his  office  a  ready- 
made  curriculum  and  then  administered  it  by  calendar 
doses,  so  much  a  day  or  month.  No  college  president  or 
board  of  trustees  would  adopt  such  a  practice.  Each  pro- 
fessor practically  makes  his  own  course  of  study  and  ad- 


*  Thus,  in  the  primary  grades  we  find  number  work  (mathematics), 
nature  study  (science),  history  stories,  language  exercises,  and  writing 
or  drawing;  and  so  on  through,  until  in  the  last  years  of  the  high  school 
we  come  upon  such  subjects  as  trigonometry,  chemistry,  general 
history,  Latin,  and  stenography,  advanced  drawing  or  color  work, 
music,  etc.  Philosophy,  being  a  discipline  for  mature  minds,  is 
usually  found  in  college  curriculums  only. 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  233 

ministers  it.  It  is  true  there  is  a  wide  difference  between 
these  two  situations;  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  practical 
wisdom  of  the  teacher,  who  stands  next  to  the  child,  is  often 
greater  than  that  of  her  more  highly  educated  superin- 
tendent. She  should  insist  on  her  right,  so  rapidly  becoming 
recognized,  of  assisting  in  the  making  of  curriculums  and 
courses  of  study. 

What  should  guide  us  in  selecting  material  for  our  cur- 
riculums?— The  following,  though  not  the  only  principles 
to  be  observed,  seem  to  require  most  emphasis. 

1.  Each  child  should  have  his  own  curriculum.    This,  one 
might  almost  say,  is  at  once  impossible  and  inevitable. 
Public  school  systems  can  hardly  be  expected,  as  yet,  to 
employ  an  expert  to  plan  elaborately  for  each  pupil  indi- 
vidually.   Yet  try  as  we  will,  we  cannot  teach  all  parts  of  a 
rigorous  and  ready-made  program  of  studies  to  all  children ; 
each  will  inevitably  pick  and  choose  for  himself.    But  we 
should  encourage  this  picking  and  choosing,  not  tolerate  or 
repress  it.    It  is  folly,  to  be  condoned  as  an  act  of  necessity 
only,  to  determine  in  advance  just  how  many  minutes  a 
week  each  fifth-grade  child  shall  spend  on  arithmetic.    It 
is  hard  to  say  whether  this  is  better  or  worse  than  the  old 
country-school  method  of  allowing  each  child  to  work  at 
each  subject  just  so  long  each  day  as  he  felt  like  working. 

2.  Expose  the  child  to  a  large  environment,  and  develop  to 
the  moral  limit  the  chief  interests  called  forth.    This  does  not 
mean  that  each  child  must  cover  the  earth  in  his  travels, 
although  it  is  desirable  that  he  should  see  both  city  and 
country,  and  as  much  (of  the  moral  side)  of  each  as  possible. 
If  Madame  Montessori  ^has  developed  anything  new  and 
useful  to  American  pedagogy,  it  is  the  principle  of  letting 
the  child  alone  sufficiently  to  study  him  and  learn  his  traits, 


234          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

interests,  and  abilities,  as  a  help  in  deciding  what  kind  of 
education  he  should  have.  Physicians  have  taught  us  that 
diagnosis  must  precede  treatment,  and  this  holds  true  of 
the  normal  child,  as  well  as  of  the  abnormal. 

A  farmer  buys  a  puppy  without  inquiring  as  to  its  blood, 
expecting  to  train  it  into  a  good  farm  dog.  It  turns  out  to 
be  a  poodle.  A  teacher  receives  a  pupil  and  straightway 
begins  rigid  number  drill  to  develop  some  general  mathe- 
matical ability.  He  turns  out  to  be  a  poet,  a  historian,  an 
artist,  or  a  moron  (a  defective),  who  can  never  get  quite 
through  the  multiplication  table.  Abilities  differ.  No  cur- 
riculum can  create  abilities  that  are  not  born  in  the  child, 
but  it  may  leave  them  undeveloped  and  dormant  if  they 
are  born  in  him.  Hence  the  need  of  the  wide  range  of 
(moral)  environment  to  awaken  whatever  slumbers  in  the 
soul. 

But  does  not  this  mean  specialism  from  the  cradle?  Yes; 
and  we  cannot  wholly  avoid  it  if  we  wish  to;  but  we  should 
not  wish  to.  Not  that  each  should  know  his  little  specialty 
only;  for  it  is  perfectly  true  that  the  educated  man  should 
know  "  something  about  everything  and  everything  about 
something."  But  a  tree  grows  from  the  trunk  outward. 
As  soon  as  we  find  the  center  of  a  child's  interests,  let  us 
make  his  favorite  study,  so  far  as  possible,  the  main  body 
of  his  curriculum.  To  know  his  hobby  wholly  he  must 
radiate  out  into  every  other  branch,  and  these  otherwise 
unwelcome  branches  become  tolerable  because  they  are 
bound  up  with  the  best  beloved.* 

*  A  case  in  point  is  the  anecdote  of  G.  Stanley  Hall  as  he  tells  it  in 
Adolescence,  Vol.  I,  pp.  129-131.  He  found  that  the  study  of  a  single 
muscle  of  a  frog's  leg  compelled  him  to  learn  something  of  electricity, 
mechanics,  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  other  tissues,  chemistry, 
mathematics,  and  the  history  of  biology.  He  read  all  summer,  and 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  235 

Interests  and  abilities  may  change  and  shift  with  age. 
For  this  reason  we  must  subject  the  child  again  and  again 
to  the  presence  and  stimulus  of  the  music,  mathematics, 
or  other  branch  to  which  he  does  not  at  first  respond,  in 
the  hope  that  love  (or  at  least  respect)  for  it  and  proficiency 
in  it  may  yet  develop  in  their  own  good  time.  For  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  abilities  do  have  such  "  nascent  peri- 
ods," and  that  neither  the  time  nor  the  order  of  their  de- 
velopment is  the  same  in  all  children, — another  reason  why 
no  one  curriculum  can  be  made  to  fit  all. 

3.  So  far  as  possible  the  pupil  should  participate  in  the  real 
life  of  the  world,  not  merely  in  a  reproduction  of  it.    The 
school,  separated  from  the  world,  runs  the  danger  of  becom- 
ing systematized  mimicry,  a  play,  an  imitation,  a  mirror  of 
life  instead  of  life  itself.    We  make  toy  mountains  of  sand 
while  nature's  product  stands  neglected  at  our  door;  we 
memorize  ancient  history  and  neglect  the  history  that  is 
being  made;  we  toy  with  tools  and  often  remain  ignorant 
of  actual  shop  life.    There  is  no  such  thing  as  real  prepara- 
tion/or life  without  real  participation  in  life.    But  the  young 
child  should  see  the  good  only;  he  may  behold  the  bad  when 
his  good  habits  have  grown  firmly  fixed. 

4.  The  curriculum  should  face  toward  the  future  rather  than 


then  began  a  second  year  of  research  on  the  muscle  "with  the  most 
eager  curiosity  and  zest." 

"As  the  work  went  on,"  he  says,  "I  felt  that  the  mysteries  not 
only  of  motor  education  and  morality,  but  of  energy  and  the  universe, 
centered  in  this  theme.  ...  In  fine,  in  the  presence  of  this  tiny 
object  I  had  gradually  passed  from  the  attitude  of  Peter  Bell,  of  whom 
the  poet  says  '  a  primrose  by  a  river's  brim  a  yellow  primrose  was  to 
him,  and  it  was  nothing  more,'  up  to  the  standpoint  of  the  seer  who 
plucked  a  ' flower  from  the  crannied  wall,'  and  realized  that  could  he 
but  know  what  it  was  'root  and  all  and  all  in  all,'  he  would  know  what 
God  and  man  is."  (Used  by  permission  of  D.  Appleton  and  Company, 
publishers.) 


236  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  past.  The  pupil  is  always  a  modern  pupil  who  will  spend 
most  of  his  days  in  a  world  more  modern  than  our  modern 
present,  the  world  which  the  future  will  develop  out  of  this 
present.  Consequently,  the  study  of  boy  scout  tactics  or 
the  practice  of  the  fire  drill  is  likely  to  prove  more  valuable 
than  a  study  of  the  way  Caesar  drew  up  his  forces  on  certain 
occasions;  modern  English  is  probably  worth  more  than 
most  ancient  languages  or  literatures ;  and  it  augurs  well  for 
citizenship  if  there  is  an  even  keener  relish  for  current 
events  than  for  ancient  history. 

Nevertheless,  individuality  should  still  count.  If  there  is 
found  one  who  persistently  throws  down  the  newspaper  to 
take  up  ancient  history,  he  should  have  such  history  to  his 
satisfaction;  but  let  us  hope  that  such  can  learn  to  feel  some 
interest  in  the  world  they  live  in,  because  it  grew  out  of  that 
past  in  which  they  would  like  to  live. 

Are  there  any  branches  that  must  be  mastered  by  all?— 
It  is  of  course  altogether  desirable  that  all  the  children  of  a 
country  learn  to  speak,  read,  and  write  a  common  language, 
know  how  to  care  for  themselves,  body  and  mind,  how  to 
recognize  and  secure  good  food  and  housing,  how  to  transact 
simple  business,  make  a  living,  and  at  the  same  time  under- 
stand something  of  the  civil  and  social  doings  of  their  own 
and  other  nations.  It  is  not  rash  to  hope  and  expect  a  much 
greater  acquisition  than  this  on  the  part  of  most  of  our 
youth.  But  no  rule  of  "  an  average  of  seventy,  with  no  mark 
below  sixty  "  should  be  enforced,  even  for  this  modest  list 
of  desirables. 

Beyond  the  merest  elements  of  a  few  studies,  there  is  no 
branch  that  is  absolutely  essential  to  an  education.  Who- 
ever has  found  the  purpose  to  which  he  can  whole-heartedly 
devote  himself,  so  that  he  can  say  of  it,  "To  this  end  was  I 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  STUDIES  237 

born  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,"  has  either 
attained  an  education  or  is  safe  on  the  high  road  to  such 
attainment. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Which  is  the  most  valuable  subject  in  the  program  of 
studies?    Why?    Why  do  not  all  give  the  same  answer? 

2.  Do  you  believe  in  elective  studies?    Why? 

3.  Who  made  the  program  of  studies  in  your  school? 
When? 

4.  Describe  what  you  would  regard  as  an  ideal  program 
of  studies. 

5.  In  which  department  of  the  world's  activities,  mathe- 
matics, science,  etc.,  are  you  likely  to  specialize?    Why? 

6.  Is  it  best  to  separate  the  "monotones"  (those  who 
sing  but  one  tone)  from  the  class  of  capable  singers?    Why? 

7.  At  what  age  can  the  student  be  trusted  to  make  his 
own  curriculum?    Would  this  age  be  the  same  for  all? 

8.  Why  should  we  have  the  past  represented  at  all  in  the 
curriculum? 

9.  Why  is  the  history  of  literature  commonly  studied, 
while  the  history  of  mathematics  is  commonly  neglected? 
Should  this  be  so? 

10.  Can  the  primary  teacher  be  trusted  to  make  her  own 
curriculum?     Why? 

11.  Who  should  determine  what  English  classics  a  stu- 
dent shall  read? 

1 2 .  Why  is  not  Hebrew  taught  in  our  high  schools?    Why 
are  Greek  and  Latin  taught  in  many  of  them? 

13.  Outline  an  argument  for  uniformity  in  the  studies 
to  be  pursued  by  all  the  children  of  a  school  system. 

14.  Outline  an  argument  against  uniformity  in  the  studies 
to  be  pursued  by  all  the  children  of  a  school  system. 

15.  If  variation  is  permissible  in  high  school  curriculums, 
why  not  in  those  of  lower  grades? 


238          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

16.  State  several  reasons  why  the  number  of  pupils 
assigned  to  each  teacher  is  so  important. 

17.  How  would  you  solve  the  problem  of  correlating 
studies?    Can  we,  apart  from  the  child,  insure  correlation 
by  any  clever  contrivance  in  the  way  of  arranging  studies? 
Why? 

18.  In  the  manual-training  shop  the  chief  punishment 
(in  at  least  one  city)  is  the  loss  of  the  privilege  of  working 
there.    Why  is  not  a  similar  loss  of  privilege  an  effective 
punishment  in  all  classes?    Should  it  be? 

19.  Can  we  get  an  education  more  rapidly,  by  searching 
out  and  persistently  engaging  in  those  tasks  which  are 
especially  difficult  and  disagreeable  for  us? 

20.  If  pupils  were  pursuing  studies  in  which  they  took 
pleasure,  would  it  be  safe  to  remove  the  necessity  of  working 
to  pass  a  grade? 

REFERENCES 

Charters,  W.  W.,  Methods  of  Teaching,  Chs.  II,  VII. 

Eliot,  Charles  William,  Educational  Reform,  Chs.  VII,  XI, 
XII,  XIV. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.,  Educational  Aims  and  Educational  Values , 
Chs.  I,  III. 

Strayer,  George  Dray  ton,  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Proc- 
ess, Ch.  XVIII. 

Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  Education,  Chs.  VII,  VIII. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SCIENCE 

"We  believe,  therefore,  that  these  practical  applications  of  science  to 
life  as  a  child  meets  them  in  his  home  and  surroundings  are  the  entrance 
way  to  science.  They  furnish  the  points  of  contact  between  man  and 
nature,  especially  those  points  of  contact  which  are  manifest  to  all  and 
first  attract  a  child's  notice.  .  .  .  The  teacher  in  the  laboratory  is  apt 
to  think  he  can  grade  a  much  simpler  series  of  experiments  in  his 
laboratory  than  outside  life  can  furnish,  and  this  may  be  true.  But 
the  motive  for  the  demonstration  and  its  later  bearing  upon  life  are 
both  apt  to  be  overlooked  in  such  pure  laboratory  work.  When  once  a 
good  problem  has  been  raised  in  life,  it  may  be  well  to  use  all  the  de- 
vices of  the  laboratory  to  illuminate  and  clear  it  up;  but  the  source  from 
which  the  problem  came,  and  the  final  reference  of  the  whole  experiment  to 
its  life  application,  are  the  things  not  to  be  forgotten.'"  (Italics  not  in 
original.)* 

EXERCISE. — Describe  the  mental  condition,  and  the  situa- 
tion with  regard  to  environment,  of  one  who  has  reached 
the  age  of  twenty,  but  has  no  scientific  information.  Men- 
tion, in  particular,  the  dangers  to  which  he  is  exposed. 

Nature  of  science. — We  have  seen  that  man  is  in  the  midst 
of  an  environment  composed  of  mighty  forces  which  will  keep 
him  safe  if  he  learns  how  to  cooperate  with  .them,  but  which 
will  pitilessly  destroy  him  if  he  remains  heedless  of  them. 
.  A  little  study  will  show  us  that  the  scientist  is  always 
doing  one  of  two  things:  either  he  is  collecting  facts,  observ- 
ing; or  he  is  trying  to  make  out  what  his  facts  mean — he  is 

*  Charles  A.  McMurry,  Special  Method  in  Elementary  Science. 
Used  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company,  publishers. 

239 


240 


THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 


thinking.    In  knowledge-getting,  then,  the  two  great  and 
essential  processes  are  observing  and  thinking. 

Accordingly,  all  knowledge  is  either  observed,  or  thought 
out,  or  both.     This  gives  us  four  kinds  of  knowledge,  thus: 

1.  Observed  but  not  thought  out,  as  the  fact  that  war 
followed  the  appearance  of  a  comet. 

2.  Observed  and  then  thought  out,  as  the  growth  of 
plants  and  the  laws  controlling  it. 

3.  Thought  out  and  then  observed,  as  the  prediction  of  an 
eclipse  and  its  later  observation. 

4.  Thought  out  but  not  observed,  as  the  condition  of  the 
interior  of  the  earth. 

A  figure  may  help  to  make  plain  these  four  classes,  and 
the  position  occupied  by  science,  commonly  so  called. 

Thought  out 


1 


Empiricism 


Inductive 
science 


Deductive 


science 


Mathematics 


Observed 

Showing  the  four  classes  of  knowledge  listed  above.  All  to  the  left 
of  the  diagonal  is  "Observed,"  all  to  the  right  of  it,  "Thought  out." 

Empiricism  relies  almost  wholly  on  observations  which 
stand  as  unrelated  fragments,  not  rationalized,  not  bound 
together  by  any  law  or  principle.  It  can  easily  believe  that 
wars  follow  comets! 


SCIENCE  241 

Inductive  science,  geography,  botany,  chemistry,  psy- 
chology, etc.,  keep  close  to  the  facts,  but  attempt  to  include 
these  in  generalizations,  to  explain  them,  find  laws  for  them. 
Each  no  sooner  imagines  a  possible  law  than  it  returns  to  the 
field  of  observation  to  see  if  the  law  works. 

Nor  is  there  any  sharp  dividing  line  between  inductive 
and  deductive  science,  for  both  induction  and  deduction  are 
found  to  some  extent  in  all  sciences.  The  better  developed 
a  science  is,  the  more  laws  it  has  found,  the  more  can  reason- 
ing run  ahead  of  observation;  and  this  placing  of  reasoning 
first  and  observing  second  is  exactly  what  makes  a  science 
deductive.  As  soon  as  any  science  succeeds  in  finding  a 
law  that  fitly  assembles  and  joins  a  wide  stretch  of  our  jig- 
saw puzzle  of  facts,  that  law  seems  as  certain  as  the  facts 
themselves,  a  reliable  source  from  which  to  infer  new  truths. 
So  the  law  of  gravity,  established  by  a  long  process  of  induc- 
tion, is  now  the  safe  support  on  which  to  hang  a  legion  of 
deductions.  Physics,  with  its  many  old  and  thoroughly 
tested  laws,  is  preeminently  the  deductive  science,  mathe- 
matics excepted. 

Value  of  science  to  the  world  at  large. — It  is  the  great 
service  of  science,  especially  of  that  science  called  "natural " 
(as  distinguished  from  mental,  social,  and  historical  science), 
to  enable  us  to  win  in  the  contest  with  our  natural  environ- 
ment. Man  must  learn  how  to  get  from  this  natural  world 
the  wherewithal  to  live,  to  keep  his  fires  burning,  his  cellars 
filled,  his  body  free  from  disease. 

Herbert  Spencer  established  five  grades  for  the  value  of 
knowledge,  according  to  the  aid  it  gives  in  (i)  direct  self- 
preservation,  (2)  indirect  self-preservation,  that  is,  securing 
the  necessaries  of  life,  (3)  the  rearing  and  discipline  of  off- 
spring, (4)  the  maintenance  of  proper  social  and  political 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 16 


242  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

relations,  and  (5)  the  miscellaneous  activities  of  leisure. 
It  is  evident  that  science  scores  heavily  on  every  one  of  these 
points.  There  is  scarcely  an  object  in  our  environment  or 
a  moment  of  our  day  that  does  not  remind  us  of  its  constant 
benefits.  Take  away  what  science  has  contributed,  and  man 
would  begin  again  at  the  stone  age. 

The  purpose  of  science  in  the  schools. — Since  the  aim  of 
education  is  the  same  as  the  aim  of  life,  the  purpose  of  sci- 
ence in  the  schools  is  the  same  as  it  is  in  the  world  at  large, 
to  teach  the  rules  of  the  life-and-death  game  which  we  are 
all  playing  with  our  environment.  Our  chief  aim,  then,  is 
a  very  practical  one:  to  teach  our  pupils  how  to  deal  suc- 
cessfully with  everyday  problems  that  demand  scientific 
information,  how  to  avoid  disease,  take  care  of  the  body, 
earn  a  living. 

When  a  city  such  as  New  York  has  in  its  public  schools 
lectures  on  the  care  of  babies,  it  extends  the  usefulness  of 
public  school  science  to  "the  rearing  and  discipline  of  off- 
spring," Spencer's  third  class  of  knowledge  value. 

Further,  as  the  pupil  passes  on  through  grammar  grades 
and  high  school,  he  learns  to  appreciate  the  method  by  which 
facts  and  laws  are  established, — he  can  establish  some  for 
himself.  This  should  make  him  cautious  as  to  his  own 
statements  and  critical  of  the  statements  of  others,  not  in 
science  only,  but  everywhere  and  always;  should  teach  him 
to  trust,  not  merely  what  has  been  said  over  and  over  so 
often  that  it  ought  to  be  true,  but  that  which  can  stand 
every  test  that  science  can  bring  to  bear  on  it.* 

Finally,  we  all  wish  to  enjoy  this  beautiful,  wonderful 
world.  Merely  to  contemplate  it,  to  gaze  upon  its  miracles, 
sometimes  as  fearful  bulks  in  the  dark,  sometimes  illumined 

*  See  the  quotation  at  the  opening  of  Chapter  I. 


SCIENCE  243 

by  the  spotlight  of  clear  understanding,  to  throb  with  sym- 
pathy at  the  thought  that  we  are  eternally  a  part  of  it,— 
this  is  the  joy  of  the  disciple  of  nature. 

Subject  matter  and  method. — Subject  matter  here  as 
everywhere  should  consist  of  what  is  most  interesting  and 
most  practical,  what  the  pupil  needs  and  what  he  likes,  in  so 
far  as  these  can  be  joined  together. 

One  of  the  surest  ways  to  hit  upon  the  right  method  is 
to  ask  ourselves  what  kind  of  lesson  we  are  trying  to  give, 
whether  it  is  for  information,  thought,  skill,  or  appreciation. 
Having  decided  this,  perhaps  the  greatest  danger  lies  in  the 
fact  that  since  methods  in  science  work  below  the  high 
school  are  still  in  an  unstable  state,  and  since  the  teacher  is 
likely  to  have  had  some  advanced  training,  he  will  attempt 
to  repeat  both  the  matter  and  the  manner  of  his  own  learn- 
ing. In  the  information  lesson,  for  example,  where  descrip- 
tion is  often  called  for,  it  is  most  deadening  to  young  enthu- 
siasm to  be  put  into  the  strait-jacket  of  systematic  and 
minute  analysis  as  this  is  found  in  advanced  textbooks. 
And  in  the  lesson  for  thought,  we  should  beware  how  we 
bring  the  definition  (say  that  of  a  machine)  into  the  class- 
room, and  leave  the  thing  defined  outside. 

Both  subject  matter  and  method,  below  the  high  school, 
are  still  somewhat  loose  and  rambling.  In  nature  study 
especially,  there  is  no  established  course.  But  the  general 
relation  between  the  work  in  "the  grades"  and  that  in  the 
high  school  seems  likely  to  become  the  same  in  this  branch 
as  in  others;  in  the  elementary  school  the  watchword  is 
observation;  in  the  secondary  school,  demonstration.  In 
the  grades  everything  is  psychologically  organized  about  the 
pupil  as  a  center;  in  the  high  school,  while  we  do  not  disre- 
gard the  learner,  we  find  that  his  developing  mind  demands 


244          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

a  more  closely  wrought  and  logical  organization  of  subject 
matter.  He  must  know  the  why  of  things,  must  do  the 
thinking  out  as  well  as  the  observing. 

Branches  of  science  in  the  elementary  school. — All  nat- 
ural science  grows  out  of  nature — is  nature  study  more  or 
less  advanced.  Out  of  the  nature  study  of  the  primary 
school  develop  two  branches,  the  personal  and  the  environ- 
mental. The  science  of  personal  welfare  is  hygiene  and 
physiology;  the  science  of  the  environment  is  geography. 

( Personal  science :  Hygiene 
Nature  Study  •}_     .  , 

(Environmental  science:  Geography 

Nature  study. — The  great  difficulty  with  this  subject 
is  its  bulkiness.  The  conscientious  teacher  is  likely  to  feel 
that,  however  hard  she  and  her  class  may  delve,  they  are 
sure  to  leave  a  legion  of  valuable  facts  untouched, — perhaps 
the  very  ones  on  which  most  emphasis  is  laid  in  some  neigh- 
boring school  system.  But  we  should  be  glad  of  our  infinite 
abundance;  what  if  we  had  but  one  season,  no  insects,  but 
one  kind  of  animal  and  two  or  three  plant  types!  Nature 
has  settled  the  question  for  us ;  there  is  no  hope  of  possessing 
all  her  wealth;  we  can  only  collect  a  coin  or  two  from  each 
of  her  treasuries.  We  must  study  individuals  and  let  them 
stand  as  representatives  of  multitudes  of  their  kind. 

The  essential  points  are  (i)  to  find  something  interesting, 
(2)  which  is  also  useful,  and  (3)  to  study  it  at  first  hand, 
going  out  to  find  the  objects  in  their  natural  setting  when- 
ever possible,  using  schoolroom  or  museum  samples  when 
necessary,  and  resorting  to  books  for  supplementary  in- 
formation chiefly.  As  it  is  difficult  to  find  anything  really 
useless,  the  principle  of  interest  can  be  given  pretty  free  play. 
This  is  sure  to  result  in  the  usual  arrangement  of  material 


SCIENCE  245 

by  seasons  or  months.  But  it  ought  not  to  be  difficult 
for  the  childish  interest  to  embrace,  each  season,  (a)  some- 
thing of  inanimate  nature,  the  falling  snow,  the  summer 
heat,  (b)  representative  plants,  and  (c)  typical  animals. 
Such  a  program  will  vary  with  different  latitudes,  environ- 
ments, classes,  but  in  every  case  it  should  insure  the  enjoy- 
ment of  nature;  an  understanding  of  the  relations  of  its 
parts,  as  the  office  of  insects  in  fertilizing  plants;  and  the 
ability  to  turn  the  knowledge  gained  to  practical  account, 
as  the  boy  scouts  and  campfire  girls  do  in  their  various 
devices. 

The  child  is  rare  who  is  not  interested  in  some  phase  of 
nature.  The  course  may  well  begin  in  the  toy  age,  and  we 
should  endeavor  to  preserve  its  continuity  into  the  more 
rigidly  organized  high-school  science.  There  must  be  no 
sharp  break  between  the  two.  The  recognition  of  this  fact 
has  led  us  to  place  " elementary  science,"  with  its  easy  ex- 
periments from  physics,  chemistry,  etc.,  in  the  upper  gram- 
mar grades.  It  affords  a  practical,  concrete  introduction 
to  the  science  work  of  the  high  school. 

Hygiene  and  physiology. — The  object  of  this  science  is  the 
preservation  of  the  person.  Our  aim  is  not  so  much  to  take 
the  offensive  and  conquer  our  environment  as  to  strengthen 
our  defenses  against  the  enemy,  seen  and  unseen. 

Personal  hygiene  "  includes  everything  that  bears  upon 
the  health  of  the  human  body.  Such  a  scope  would  include 
the  various  sub- topics  connected  directly  and  indirectly  with 
the  following  subjects:  Bodily  nourishment,  including  food, 
water,  and  air;  the  excretions;  exercise;  rest;  the  influence 
of  abnormal  conditions  on  health,  e.  g.,  defective  vision,  bad 
teeth,  adenoids,  constipation,  etc.;  the  influence  of  certain 
habits  on  health,  e.  g.,  rapid  eating,  bad  habits  of  vision, 


246  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

smoking,  drug  habits,  sexual  habits,  etc. ;  the  causes  of  dis- 
ease; the  carriers  of  disease;  our  defenses  against  disease; 
and  the  nature  of  our  common  diseases."  *  From  this  we 
pass  naturally  to  home  and  school  sanitation,  medical  in- 
spection, community  and  race  hygiene.  The  course  should 
grade  up  to  a  scientific  demonstration  of  these  truths  in 
the  high  school. 

Of  course  the  pupil  cannot  develop  all  this  afresh,  as  the 
scientist  works  it  out,  but  he  can  acquire  a  fund  of  informa- 
tion, can  practice  good  health  habits,  form  ideals.  And 
we  can  quickly  convince  him  that  he  is  interested  in  these 
things  if  he  is  interested  in  living. 

Physiology  is  simply  auxiliary  here — and  psychology  too, 
for  that  matter.  These  sciences  teach  us  what  the  mind 
and  the  organs  of  the  body  do;  and  the  only  need  the  chil- 
dren have  for  such  information  is  to  enable  them  to  care 
properly  for  both.  This  shows  us  at  once  the  limited 
amount  of  physiology  to  be  taught, — merely  enough  to 
make  clear  the  hygiene.  We  should  teach,  too,  at  least  a 
little  mental  hygiene,  based  on  psychology:  how  to  begin  the 
day  with  a  smile,  cultivate  a  sense  of  humor,  bring  our 
joviality  to  the  table,  cast  out  all  fear.  Even  children 
should  know  these  things,  and  should  crystallize  their 
knowledge  into  pleasant  habit. 

The  method  cannot  always  be  observational.  It  cannot 
well  be  so  in  teaching  of  disease  germs,  for  example.  But 
this  method  should  be  our  ideal,  and  the  abundance  of 
pictures  and  other  objective  aids  helps  us  much.  Health 
habits,  in  so  far  as  the  school  can  control  them,  must  be 
drilled  home  with  kindly  but  inflexible  determination. 

*  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  article  on  "Hygiene,  Personal." 
Used  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company,  publishers. 


SCIENCE  247 

Geography. — In  this  science  we  turn  from  our  attitude 
of  hygienic  self-defense  to  an  aggressive  examination  of  our 
environment.  We  study  geography,  because  we  wish  to 
know  the  kind  of  world  we  live  in,  what  it  is  likely  to  do  to 
us,  and  what  we  can  do  with  it.  We  want  to  be  able  to 
predict  and  to  control  its  operations;  to  know  our  national 
neighbors,  and  how  we,  as  one  great  human  family,  can 
make  this  old  earth  yield  us  all  a  happy  living. 

In  the  light  of  this,  how  insignificant  become  the  swarms 
of  little  facts  which  so  often  clutter  up  our  geography  text- 
books. It  is  not  the  petty  straits  and  bays,  towns  and  el- 
bows of  rivers  that  we  need  to  know,  but  how  man,  the 
heaven-born  pioneer,  has  made  and  is  making  a  home  and  a 
career  for  himself  on  this  none  too  hospitable  planet.  Our 
facts  should  all  be  culled  with  reference  to  this  principle. 

Here  again  we  start  with  the  observational  method,  study- 
ing our  home  geography  out  of  doors,  building  up  apper- 
ceptive  centers  by  means  of  which  to  interpret  maps  and 
descriptions  of  those  parts  of  the  world  we  cannot  visit.  Ad- 
vanced work  in  geography  is  very  largely  the  interpretation 
of  such  maps  and  descriptions,  as  we  proceed  from  our  little 
home  areas  to  larger  and  larger  horizons.  Because  the  map, 
the  model,  the  drawing,  the  photograph,  and  the  verbal 
description  are  of  such  inevitable  importance,  the  pupil 
must  become  skillful  in  picturing,  mapping,  and  describing 
his  own  geographical  surroundings  in  order  that  he  may  cor- 
rectly interpret  such  representations  of  unknown  regions. 
He  must  not  think,  as  children  sometimes  do,  that  New 
York  is  red,  Pennsylvania  green,  etc.,  or  that  one  crosses 
a  visible  line  in  passing  from  state  to  state. 

The  applications  of  this  science  form  what  we  may  call 
the  geographical  arts,  the  processes  by  which  man  earns 


248  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

from  his  environment  his  food,  clothing,  fuel,  shelter. 
Agriculture,  the  great  food  art,  is  receiving  in  our  schools 
an  ever-widening  recognition. 

The  mental  and  social  sciences. — In  considering  our  ad- 
justment to  environment,  we  must  not  forget  that  a  large 
part  of  the  environment  of  each  of  us,  and  often  the  most 
important  part  so  far  as  our  success  is  concerned,  consists 
of  other  human  beings.  We  must  know  ourselves,  our  fel- 
low men,  and  the  relations  between  us.  We  must  study  (or 
at  least  practice)  psychology,  sociology,  economics,  ethics, 
and  logic. 

Of  course  these  can  have  no  place  in  the  elementary 
school,  except  in  the  form  of  unorganized  information  and 
certain  wholesome  habits  and  ideals.  But  the  high-school 
mind  is  sufficiently  mature  to  profit  by  the  elements  of  all 
these  subjects  in  a  lively,  concrete  form.  Their  general 
educational  value  would  probably  compare  well  with  that  of 
other  high-school  branches.  We  need  more  secondary 
school  teachers  who  have  the  ability  and  training  to  present 
these  subjects  suitably  for  young  people,  and  more  text- 
books written  for  this  specific  purpose. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  State  the  psychological  reasons  why  nature  study 
cannot  be  taught  from  books  alone. 

2.  What  value  is  there  in  allowing  a  child  to  make  deduc- 
tions and  test  them?    How  do  we  train  ourselves  to  foretell 
the  weather? 

3.  How  would  you  disabuse  a  child  of  the  belief  that  the 
moon  controls  the  weather? 

4.  If  the  human  race  had  to  sacrifice  either  its  knowledge 
of  history  or  of  science,  which  could  it  better  afford  to  lose? 
Why? 


SCIENCE  249 

5.  "Science  teaches  us  to  observe  carefully  and  record 
accurately."    Discuss  this  statement  from  the  standpoint 
of  formal  discipline. 

6.  "We  must  not  study  frogs  in  the  fourth  grade,  for  we 
studied  them  last  year  in  the  third."    Is  this  sound?    Why? 

7.  State  some  differences  between  the  study  of  trees  in 
high-school  botany  and  the  study  of  them  in  grade  five. 

8.  What,  if  anything,  do  you  wish  had  been  added  to 
your  early  training  in  nature  study,  hygiene,  or  geography? 

9.  How  do  you  account  for  so  much  cigarette  smoking  by 
boys,  when  the  evil  effects  of  the  habit  are  taught  to  all? 

10.  Need  the  details  of  the  circulation  of  blood  in  the 
heart  be  taught  to  grammar-grade  pupils?    Why? 

1 1 .  Write  a  brief  essay  on  "The  school  garden  as  a  nature- 
study  center." 

12.  Discuss  the  values  of  the  following  in  teaching  geog- 
raphy: magazines,  moving  pictures,  post  cards,  correspond- 
ence with  distant  pupils,  stereoscopes,  stereopticons,  lec- 
tures, the  school  museum,  the  sand  table,  the  textbook,  the 
blackboard,  the  copying  of  maps. 

13.  Do  you  agree  with  what  is  said  about  the  mental  and 
social  sciences?    Why? 

REFERENCES 

Davis,  William  Morris,  Geographical  Essays. 
Dodge,    Richard   Elwood,    and   Kirchwey,    Clara   Barbara, 
The  Teaching  of  Geography  in  Elementary  Schools. 
Geikie,  Archibald,  The  Teaching  of  Geography. 
Huxley,  Thomas  Henry,  Science  and  Education. 
McMurry,  Charles  A.,  Special  Method  in  Elementary  Science. 
Parker,  Francis  W.,  How  to  Study  Geography. 
Schmucker,  Samuel  Christian,  The  Study  of  Nature. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  Education. 
Thomson,  J.  A.,  Introduction  to  Science. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

MATHEMATICS 

"There  is  probably  more  time  wasted  in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic 
than  in  the  teaching  of  any  other  subject.  Long  problems  are  given 
instead  of  short;  intricate  ones  instead  of  simple;  things  unlike  the 
operations  of  actual  life  instead  of  what  is  practical.  Children  are 
burdened  with  dreadful  'examples'  for  'home  work'  which,  if  solved 
at  all,  are  solved  by  the  aid  of  parents  or  older  brothers  and  sisters. 
Time  is  consumed  in  work  which  children  cannot  possibly  understand 
or  appreciate.  .  .  .  Time  was  when  it  was  considered  sufficient  to 
learn  by  rote  definitions  of  technical  terms  employed,  to  memorize  a 
rule  without  understanding  its  reasons,  and  to  apply  it  to  the  solution 
of  problems  precisely  worded.  When  the  rule  was  forgotten  or  the 
problem  differently  worded,  the  power  of  solution  was  obliterated. 
But  no  matter;  unreasonable  work  of  this  kind  was  thought  in  some 
inexplicable  way  to  train  the  reasoning  powers;  the  child  was  supposed 
to  learn  to  think  by  a  process  that  required  no  thinking.  The  doc- 
trine of  apperception  has  changed  all  our  ideas  on  this  matter."  * 

EXERCISE. — Ask  a  class  of  children  to  make  up  some 
arithmetic  problems  about  the  things  that  most  interest 
them.  Compare  these  problems  with  those  found  in  the 
textbook. 

Try  to  secure  statements  from  your  friends  of  middle 
age  as  to  the  value  to  them  of  the  mathematics  they  studied 
in  the  elementary  or  the  secondary  school.  How,  if  at  all, 
would  they  change  the  character  or  amount  of  instruction 
there? 

The  value  of  mathematics  to  the  world  at  large. — It  would 


*  William  H.  Maxwell,  Educational  Review,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  475.    Used 
by  permission. 

250 


MATHEMATICS  251 

be  hard  to  overstate  the  importance  of  mathematics.  Our 
calendar  expresses  it,  historical  events  are  set  in  order  by  it, 
every  natural  science  mounts  by  it,  all  industrial  arts  are 
wedded  to  it.  Theorist  or  practitioner,  no  one  can  escape  it. 
Nor  does  our  little  world  bound  it.  Other  worlds  may  easily 
have  different  history,  different  botany,  different  psychol- 
ogy, different  literature  from  ours,  but  it  is  next  to  impossi- 
ble to  conceive  of  their  having  any  mathematics  different 
from  ours. 

Yet  despite  this  apparently  universal  truth  and  utility, 
there  is  but  slight  demand,  in  the  daily  lives  of  most  of  us, 
for  anything  more  than  the  merest  rudiments  of  number 
and  quantity.  They  are  few  who  do  not  need  a  modicum  of 
mathematics,  but  they  also  are  few  who  need  anything  more. 
Of  course,  we  all  profit  by  the  genius  of  the  expert  mathe- 
matician, as  we  do  by  the  devotion  of  the  expert  physician, 
but  that  is  no  reason  for  becoming  either  kind  of  expert 
unless  our  "call"  takes  us  that  way. 

Nature  of  mathematics. — Mathematics  is  a  kind  of 
science.  In  beginning  the  study  of  it,  we  should  make  many 
observations  of  the  world  about  us,  as  we  do  in  other  sci- 
ences. But  the  peculiarity  of  mathematics  is,  that  we  so 
quickly  pass  on  from  the  " observing"  stage  to  the  "reason- 
ing" stage.  Its  generalizations,  some  of  which  are  called 
axioms,  form  the  foundation  of  a  great  mass  of  deductions 
which  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  science.  It  is  "the"  de- 
ductive science. 

Mathematics,  then,  has  few  (observed)  facts  to  remember, 
— no  such  burden  of  them  as  we  find  in  geography,  botany, 
or  chemistry.  It  is  a  thinker's  paradise,  for  a  certain  kind 
of  thinker. 

Educational  value  of  mathematics. — In  some  quarters 


252          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

it  is  still  necessary  to  dispel  the  delusion  that  each  branch 
of  study  has  some  peculiar  mental  power  to  develop.  The 
truth  seems  to  be  that  any  branch  of  study  can  be  so  taught 
that  it  will  train  any  mental  power  to  act  on  that  kind  of 
subject  matter,  but  not,  usually,  on  all  kinds.  Thus 
mathematics  develops,  in  one  who  has  the  "gift"  for  it, 
mathematical  observation,  mathematical  memory,  mathe- 
matical imagination,  judgment,  reasoning,  feeling. 

But  it  cannot  of  itself  develop  the  power  to  reason  well 
on  all  subjects.  "It  is  more  than  doubtful  .  .  .  whether 
the  severe  study  of  arithmetic  would  make  any  material 
difference  in  a  man's  capacity,  as  a  juryman,  to  draw  sound 
conclusions  from  a  tangled  mass  of  evidence,  or  as  a  citizen, 
to  trace  admitted  governmental  evils  to  their  source.  .  . 
Facility  in  the  one  kind  of  reasoning  is  no  more  a  guaranty 
of  facility  in  the  other  than  is  proficiency  in  playing  golf  of 
proficiency  in  playing  chess."  *  The  general  truth  of  this 
statement  has  been  borne  out  by  the  recent  developments 
of  experimental  pedagogy. 

Our  chief  aim  in  teaching  mathematics  to  children  is  to 
enable  them  to  solve  the  problems  of  everyday  life,  as  those 
problems  appear  in  the  household,  the  market,  and  the  shop. 
If  we  accomplish  this  aim,  "discipline"  and  "culture"  will 
take  care  of  themselves. 

This  means  that  it  is  the  art  of  mathematics,  rather  than 
the  science,  that  we  are  trying  to  impart.  We  should  not 
care,  until  the  child  himself  naturally  desires  to  understand, 
whether  he  can  "explain"  his  addition  and  long  division, 
his  fractional  and  other  operations,  or  not.  But  we  should 
care  constantly  that  he  perform  these  operations  with  speed 

*  J.  P.  Gordy,  A  Broader  Elementary  Education,  p.  217.  Used  by 
permission  of  Hinds,  Hayden  and  Eldridge,  publishers. 


MATHEMATICS  253 

and  accuracy.  In  other  words  the  early  lessons  in  mathe- 
matics should  not  be  "thought  lessons"  only,  but  observa- 
tion lessons,  information  lessons,  and  especially  lessons  for 
skill.  We  are  too  much  afraid  of  letting  our  children  imi- 
tate us  in  mathematical  operations,  as  they  do  in  skating 
and  shooting  marbles.  Even  problem  solving  is  partly 
habit. 

In  addition  to  this  very  practical  reason  for  teaching  a 
little  mathematics  to  everybody,  there  is  a  special  reason 
for  teaching  a  great  deal  of  mathematics  to  the  limited  num- 
ber who  have  strong  talent  for  it;  it  will  serve  them  in  their 
vocations  as  engineers,  architects,  investigators.  So  far 
as  possible,  we  should  teach  mathematics  to  each  child  in 
accordance  with  what  he  is  likely  to  do  with  it.  One  gains 
merely  the  art  of  reckoning,  another  glimpses  the  science 
of  number,  a  third  proves  to  have  been  born  to  further  the 
cause  of  mathematics  in  the  world.  Vocation  determines 
the  value. 

Subject  matter. — More  and  more  the  principle  prevails 
that  subject  matter  shall  be  selected  according  to  the  needs 
of  the  pupils.  "What  can  we  leave  out?"  is  the  common 
question,  and  rightly.  We  are  leaving  out  of  arithmetic 
such  subjects  as  obsolete  or  little-used  measures  and 
tables,  unusually  intricate  or  lengthy  problems,  progres- 
sions, series,  compound  proportion,  annuities,  cube  root, 
and  many  other  subjects.*  At  the  same  time  the  stress  is 
ever  more  and  more  on  the  applications  of  such  topics  as  are 
taught,  to  practical  problems — pupils'  problems. 

The  course  in  elementary  mathematics  is  made  more 

*  From  secondary-school  algebra  we  find  disappearing  the  more 
elaborate  method  of  finding  the  highest  common  factor,  difficult 
simultaneous  quadratics,  all  equations  beyond  the  second  degree,  and 
other  labored  and  little  used  topics. 


254          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

practical,  unified,  and  natural,  by  combining  with  arith- 
metic the  simpler  (and  more  useful)  parts  of  algebra  and 
geometry.  Pupils  no  longer  exhaust  their  arithmetical 
powers  and  then  take  up  algebra;  arithmetic  and  algebra 
are  so  combined  in  the  upper  grades  of  the  grammar  school 
that  the  pupil  finds  no  precise  point  at  which  he  can  say 
arithmetic  ends  and  algebra  begins.  He  is  no  longer 
cramped  by  the  command,  "  Solve  by  arithmetic."  He 
solves  all  problems  by  the  most  direct  method  he  can 
find* 

The  grammar  school  also  is  coming  to  have  a  geometry 
of  its  own.  The  pupil  is  not  puzzled  with  the  abstractions 
of  advanced  geometry.  He  demonstrates  by  doing,  studies 
the  geometry  of  perceptions  rather  than  that  of  ideas.  A 
line  is  to  him  the  path  of  his  knife  point  or  a  well-sharpened 
pencil,  and  not  a  refined  idea  with  nothing  in  the  outside 
world  quite  good  enough  to  correspond  with  it.  He  works 
with  things,  finding  parallel  lines  in  his  environment,  con- 
structing angles,  snipping  off  the  corners  of  a  quadrilateral 
to  show  that  they  just  fill  in  the  space  about  a  point,  etc. 
This  work  is  supplemented  by  that  in  mechanical  drawing. 

This  brings  about  a  close  correlation  among  the  various 
branches  of  mathematics.  The  correlation  of  mathematical 
with  other  subject  matter  will  take  care  of  itself  if  the 
mathematics  is  developed,  as  it  ought  to  be,  from  real 
juvenile  needs.  The  subject  matter  should  be  so  handled 
as  to  extend  the  child's  experience  and  increase  his  feeling 
of  mastery.  In  the  figure,  if  the  circle  E  represents  the 
child's  experience,  D,  falling  well  within  it,  gives  us  the  range 
of  material  for  developmental  and  illustrative  work.  But 

*  There  is  a  strong  recent  tendency  to  combine  algebra  and  geome- 
try in  the  high  school.  The  plan  deserves  further  experimentation. 


MATHEMATICS  255 

any  principle,  having  been  developed,  illustrated,  and  well 
drilled  in,  should  be  given  a  wider  range  of  application, 
represented  by  circle  A .  A  pupil  who  learns  how  to  get  the 


volume  of  a  sphere  can  apply  the  formula  (roughly)  to  the 
earth,  sun,  or  moon.  The  result  is  similar  with  new  combi- 
nations of  old  things;  a  boy  who  knows  the  circumference 
of  his  bicycle  wheel  can  tie  a  small  flag  to  one  of  the  spokes 
and  measure  the  distance  between  home  and  school. 

But  it  is  quite  wrong  to  suppose  that  we  can  teach  much 
geography  or  history  or  any  other  subject  merely  by  offering 
information  problems  in  that  subject  when  teaching  arith- 
metic. This  is  much  like  wearing  skates  when  learning  to 
dance,  so  as  to  master  both  skating  and  dancing  by  a  single 
effort.  A  few  may  succeed  in  spite  of  the  divided  attention 
and  effort. 

General  method  in  mathematics. — Speaking  generally, 


256  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

there  are  but  two  kinds  of  work  to  master  in  mathematics. 
They  are: 

1.  Fixed  operations,  such  as  addition  and  multiplica- 

tion. 

2.  Problems  to  which  these  operations  are  applied. 

i.  As  stated  before,  many  of  the  fixed  operations  should 
be  regarded  as  acts  of  skill,  learned  chiefly  by  imitating  the 
teacher,  and  left  unexplained.  This  method  should  always 
be  followed  when  the  explanation  proves  to  be  a  stumbling 
block,  as  in  the  case  of  division  of  fractions.  Let  us  teach 
practical  doing,  the  art  of  calculating,  whether  we  teach  the 
elegant  science  of  arithmetic  or  not. 

When  it  seems  likely  that  a  class  can  get  some  under- 
standing of  the  process  to  be  taught,  it  may  be  approached 
as  a  problem  to  be  solved.  The  following  is  suggested  as  a 
good  type  of  general  procedure. 

(a)  Let  the  new  truth  appear  in  the  guise  of  a  problem. 
For  instance,  when  the  class  is  ready  to  work  out  a  rule  for 
finding  the  area  of  a  rectangle,  we  may  propose  the  ques- 
tion, How  can  we  find  the  number  of  squares  in  a  checker 
board  without  counting  them  all? 

(b)  Let  the  pupils  solve  the  problem  under  the  guidance 
and  leadership  of  the  teacher.    The  work  should  be  concrete 
and  mainly  oral.    When  a  rule  or  principle  is  developed,  a 
brief  statement  of  it  should  be  formulated  and  recorded. 
For  example: 

Area  of  rectangle  =  B   X  A. 

(c)  This  terse  statement  should  be  fixed  by  repetition  and 
drilled  upon  orally  until  it  can  be  applied  accurately  and 
readily.    Let  it  circulate  all  round  the  class. 

(d)  Fix  the  most  desirable  written  form  by  practice  on 
board  or  paper,  the  teacher  carefully  supervising. 


MATHEMATICS  257 

(e)  Let  the  pupils,  as  independently  as  may  be,  apply  the 
knowledge  gained  to  situations  which  to  them  are  real  and 
interesting  problems. 

2.  The  solution  of  particular  problems  may  proceed  some- 
what as  follows: 

(a)  Image  vividly  the  conditions  of  the  problem,  drawing 
a  figure  or  picture  if  necessary,  to  aid. 

(b)  Discover  just  where  or  how  the  "answer"  must  fit  in 
with  the  rest,  and  consequently  how  it  can  be  obtained  from 
the  facts  given. 

(c)  Translate  the  language  of  the  problem  into  figures, 
and  solve,  writing  no  explanations  except  such  as  are  neces- 
sary to  aid  the  solver  himself. 

(d)  When  the  answer  is  obtained  in  figures,  state  what  it 
means  in  the  concrete  terms  of  the  problem. 

Concerning  analyses  and  explanations,  so  often  abused, 
Dr.  Smith  is  eminently  quotable:  "  (i)  To  require  that  every 
applied  problem  should  be  solved  in  steps  is  to  encourage 
arithmetical  dawdling.  ...  (2)  To  split  hairs  on  such  ques- 
tions of  form  as  9  X  150  or  i$c  X  9  is  to  get  away  from  the 
essential  point.  ...  (3)  To  require  no  analyses  of  the  ap- 
plied problems  is  an  extreme  that  is  about  as  bad  as  to  re- 
quire them  for  all,  and  perhaps  worse.  ...  (4)  To  require 
some  particular  form  of  analysis,  only  to  meet  the  idiosyn- 
crasy of  the  teacher,  is  also  a  danger  against  which  we  need 
to  be  on  our  guard.  ...  In  general,  therefore,  the  teacher 
should  see  to  it  that  there  is  a  reasonable  amount  of  rapid, 
accurate  solution,  the  ' answers'  being  the  paramount 
object.  He  should  see  also  that  there  is  a  reasonable 
amount  of  written  analysis,  preferably  in  the  convenient 
form  of  steps,  but  not  limited  in  any  notional  way  that 
would  destroy  originality  or  make  a  solution  unnecessarily 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 17 


258  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

long."  *  Formal,  detailed  analysis  should  not  be  required 
too  early — say  before  grade  seven — but  problems  should  be 
talked  over  and  reasoned  out  informally  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  school  work. 

The  psychology  of  arithmetic. — Fundamentally,  arith- 
metic is  counting  up  and  down  the  number  scale,  with  the 
invention  of  such  short  cuts  as  addition,  division,  etc.,  to 
quicken  the  process.  Whatever  the  adult  may  make  of  his 
concept  of  number  when  he  analyzes  it,  there  is  little  doubt 
as  to  how  the  child  gets  hold  of  the  idea.  Out  of  the  "bloom- 
ing, buzzing  confusion"  that  surrounds  the  young  child, 
there  comes  home  to  him  very  early  the  consciousness  of 
changes,  and  particularly  those  rhythmical  changes  that 
readily  form  series.  This  series  idea  is  built  up  from  many 
sources,  breathing,  running,  the  clock  tick,  the  drum,  the 
accented  notes  in  music. 

The  series  idea  is  the  basis  of  the  number  concept. 

The  series  need  not  be  named  at  first.  The  essential 
thing  is  that  it  should  be  abstracted,  that  is,  separated  from 
any  particular  concrete  objects  or  events  that  have  helped 
to  build  it  up.  This  abstract  series  idea  can  then  be  applied 
in  a  manner  that  seems  very  much  like  counting,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  child  who  reproduces  the  strokes  of  the  clock 
without  using  number  names,  saying,  for  example,  "Boom! 
boom!  boom!"  when  the  clock  strikes  three. 

Next  comes  the  learning  of  the  number  names.  The  first 
"counting"  should  not  be  applied  to  things,  any  more  than 
one  would  point  to  objects  when  repeating  a  Mother  Goose 
rime.  It  is  purely  a  memory  drill  on  a  series  of  names.  It 
is  important,  then,  that  the  numbers  be  taught  in  their 

*  David  Eugene  Smith,  Teachers  College  Record,  Jan.,  1909.  Used 
by  permission. 


MATHEMATICS  259 

natural  order.  Having  now  gained  his  abstract  series  idea 
named  with  the  number  names,  he  is  ready  to  apply  it. 
Care  is  necessary  that  the  number  names  be  not  applied  at 
random,  or  regarded  as  the  names  of  certain  individuals. 
Phillips  gives  a  case  of  a  boy  who  counted  his  neighbor's 
four  dogs  as  follows:  "Tip  is  naught,  Bob  is  one,  Nero  is 
two,  and  Dandie  is  three."  * 

The  pupil  may  now  proceed  to  count  all  sorts  of  things 
in  which  he  is  interested,  using  his  fingers,  the  original  basis 
of  the  "tens"  system,  as  freely  as  he  chooses.  Objects  also 
find  a  large  place  in  the  development  of  addition  tables,  etc., 
but  the  transition  from  things  to  pictures  of  things  and  then 
to  symbols  purely,  may  follow  rapidly,  f 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  It  is  sometimes  urged  that  pupils  should  write  their 
problems,  because  they  must  certainly  think  of  the  problem 
while  they  are  writing  it.    Is  this  argument  sound?    Why? 

2.  "Mathematics  teaches  us  to  reason."     Discuss  this 
pro  and  con. 

3.  State  the  psychological  reason  for  not  using,  in  the 
very  beginning  of  arithmetic,  such  general  symbols  as  those 
employed  in  algebra. 

4.  State,  in  terms  of  habit,  the  reason  why  children  should 
not  long  continue  the  use  of  objects  in  computation. 

5.  Show  that  all  arithmetic  can  be  reduced  to  a  matter 
of  counting  up  and  down  the  number  scale. 

6.  Visit  some  classes  in  mathematics,  and  try  to  work 
out  the  psychological  reasons  for  the  errors  you  find. 

*  D.  E.  Phillips,  Number  and  Its  Applications  Psychologically  Con- 
sidered,^, ii. 

f  The  above  is  offered  as  a  mere  hint  of  a  type  study  in  the  psy- 
chology of  number.  I  believe  it  touches  a  critical  point,  and  that  a 
little  more  of  this  kind  of  knowledge  would  prevent  much  of  the  use- 
less rambling  so  often  found  in  methods  of  teaching  arithmetic. 


260  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

7.  What  use  can  be  made  of  arithmetic  in  the  teaching  of 
algebra? 

8.  "Mathematical   study  begets  accuracy,    the  prime 
requisite  of  the  truthteller,  and  so  has  a  high  moral  value." 
Comment  on  this. 

9.  Make  a  list  of  those  topics  in  arithmetic  for  which  you 
have  found  frequent  actual  use  since  you  left  school. 

10.  Discuss  "The  use  of  imagery  in  mathematical  study." 

11.  Should  models  be  used  in  the  study  of  geometry? 
Why? 

12.  What  proportion  of  the  work  in  arithmetic  should  be 
oral?    On  what  do  you  base  your  answer? 

13.  How  should  you  proceed  with  the  boy  who  counted, 
"Tip  is  naught,  Bob  is  one,"  etc.? 

REFERENCES 

Ball,  W.  W.  Rouse,  A  Short  Account  of  the  History  of  Math- 
emalics. 

Gilbert,  Chas.  B.,  What  Children  Study  and  Why,  Chs.  X-XII. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.,  Geometry  in  the  Grammar  School. 

Hunt,  E.,  Concrete  Geometry  for  Grammar  Schools. 

Phillips,  D.  E.,  Number  and  Its  Applications  Psychologically 
Considered. 

Smith,  David  Eugene,  The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathe- 
matics. 

Suzzalo,  Henry,  The  Teaching  of  Primary  Arithmetic. 

Young,  J.  W.  A.,  The  Teaching  of  Mathematics  in  the  Element- 
ary and  the  Secondary  School. 

Mathematics  in  the  Elementary  Schools  of  the  United  States. 
Government  Printing  Office. 

Report  of  the  American  Commissioners  of  the  International 
Commission  on  the  Teaching  of  Mathematics.  Government 
Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

HISTORY 

"We  no  longer  go  to  history  for  lessons  in  morals,  nor  for  good 
examples  of  conduct,  nor  yet  for  dramatic  or  picturesque  scenes.  We 
understand  that  for  all  these  purposes  legend  would  be  preferable  to 
history,  for  it  presents  a  chain  of  causes  and  effects  more  in  accordance 
with  our  ideas  of  justice,  more  perfect  and  heroic  characters,  finer  and 
more  affecting  scenes.  Nor  do  we  seek  to  use  history  for  the  pur- 
pose of  promoting  patriotism  and  loyalty;  we  feel  that  it  would  be 
illogical  for  different  persons  to  draw  opposite  conclusions  from  the 
same  science  according  to  their  country  or  party;  it  would  be  an  invi- 
tation to  every  people  to  mutilate,  if  not  to  alter,  history  in  the  di- 
rection of  its  preferences.  We  understand  that  the  value  of  every 
science  consists  in  its  being  true,  and  we  ask  from  history  truth  and 
nothing  more. 

"The  function  of  history  in  education  is  perhaps  not  yet  clearly 
apparent  to  all  those  who  teach  it.  But  all  those  who  reflect  are 
agreed  to  regard  it  as  being  principally  an  instrument  of  social  culture. 
The  study  of  the  societies  of  the  past  causes  the  pupil  to  understand, 
by  the  help  of  actual  instances,  what  a  society  is;  it  familiarizes  him 
with  the  principal  social  phenomena  and  the  different  species  of 
usages,  their  variety,  and  their  resemblances.  The  study  of  events 
and  evolutions  familiarizes  him  with  the  idea  of  the  continual  trans- 
formation which  human  affairs  undergo,  it  secures  him  against  an 
unreasoning  dread  of  social  changes;  it  rectifies  his  notion  of  progress. 
All  these  acquisitions  render  the  pupil  fitter  for  public  life;  history 
thus  appears  as  an  indispensable  branch  of  instruction  in  a  democratic 
society."  * 

*  Ch.  V.  Langlois  and  Ch.  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
History.  (Berry's  Translation.)  Used  by  permission  of  Henry  Holt 
and  Company,  publishers. 

261 


262  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

EXERCISES. — Write  a  historical  account  of  some  party, 
game,  or  other  event  which  you  have  recently  witnessed,  and 
compare  your  report  with  that  of  several  others.  Do  they 
agree?  If  not,  who  is  right?  Are  all  facts  reported? 

Compare  several  newspaper  accounts  of  any  important 
event — "specials,"  not  syndicate  reports.  What  lessons  can 
be  drawn  from  them? 

Write  the  history  of  some  event  that  occurred  in  your 
family  or  neighborhood  before  you  were  born.  How  do  you 
know  when  you  have  the  truth  of  the  matter? 

As  we  approach  the  study  of  history,  one  of  the  most 
necessary  precautions  is  that  we  assume  toward  it  the 
scientific  attitude.  If  the  past  were  a  museum  into  which 
we  could  enter  and  see  how  things  actually  were,  we  should 
hardly  dare  to  take  such  liberties  with  it  as  we  some- 
times do. 

Instead  of  open-mindedly  facing  the  past,  resolved  to 
accept  whatever  shall  be  revealed  regardless  of  conse- 
quences, we  are  too  inclined  to  form  a  mold  of  preconcep- 
tions and  force  the  facts  to  fit  it.  To  the  religionist,  history 
often  becomes  the  story  of  God's  unfolding  plan  of  the  ages; 
to  the  moralist,  it  may  be  a  collection  of  ethical  object  les- 
sons; to  the  statesman,  a  textbook  of  patriotism;  to  the  man 
of  letters,  a  mere  branch  of  literature.  We  should  assume 
none  of  these  things,  not  even  progress,  or  a  purposive  plan 
of  occurrence.  History  is  simply  the  science  of  what  came 
to  pass,  especially  as  affecting  human  beings. 

History  as  a  science. — If  we  can  agree  that  history  is  the 
science  of  the  past,  how  does  it  differ  from  other  sciences? 
Not  in  its  fundamental  purpose,  for  that  is  the  same  in  all 
sciences,  to  understand  the  world  that  we  may  cope  with  it 
successfully.  It  is  distinguished  by  its  subject  matter,  and 


HISTORY  263 

by  the  departures  from  scientific  method  which  this  peculiar 
subject  matter  makes  necessary. 

Its  subject  matter  is  that  which  no  longer  exists.  The 
human  race  is  like  a  traveler  whose  light  can  but  half 
penetrate  the  mist  both  before  and  behind  him.  Both 
the  future  and  the  past  belong  to  that  kind  of  knowledge 
which  must  be  reasoned  out  but  cannot  now  be  observed,— 
and  the  past  has  slipped  away  from  our  observation 
forever. 

It  is  just  here  that  history  fails  from  a  scientific  stand- 
point. For  whereas  a  science  like  physics  can  observe  its 
facts  directly,  record  them,  and  proceed  to  explain  them, 
history  can  observe  its  facts,  the  happenings  of  bygone  days, 
indirectly  only;  must  reconstruct  them  by  imagination  and 
thought  before  it  can  draw  inferences  from  them.  This 
process  may  be  as  truthful  or  as  faulty  as  the  zoological 
restoration  of  an  extinct  animal. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  past. — An  event  occurs,  a  bat- 
tle, a  death,  a  change  of  custom.  This  event  impresses  its 
witnesses,  observers,  or  participants,  in  certain  ways.  They 
describe  it  truthfully  or  untruthfully;  if  truthfully,  they 
employ  such  words  as  seem  to  them  fit  to  convey  their 
meaning.  The  historian,  prejudiced  or  unprejudiced,  reads 
these  words,  perhaps  centuries  later,  gives  them  what 
meaning  he  can  in  terms  of  his  modern  experience,  tries  to 
rebuild  in  his  own  mind  the  mental  picture  that  was  in  the 
mind  of  the  witness,  and  from  this  infers  what  the  event 
itself  must  have  been  like.  The  historian  then  rephrases 
the  story  for  us,  and  we  build  our  own  mental  picture, 
trusting  that  the  facts,  after  these  two  objective  recordings 
and  three  subjective  reproductions,  may,  if  possible,  re- 
main undistorted! 


264  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

A  diagram  will  make  this  plain. 

The  event 
itself 


Historical 
document 


Volume  of 
"  history" 


Mind  of  witness 


Mind    of   historian 


Mind    of    reader 


We  cannot  discuss  here  the  additional  circumstances  that 
sometimes  make  the  transmission  of  facts  more  trustworthy, 
such  as  the  agreement  of  independent  lines  of  evidence, 
nor  those  that  are  unfavorable,  such  as  the  fact  that  most 
witnesses  have  trusted  their  memories,  instead  of  recording 
the  events  immediately,  as  scientific  practice  would  require. 
But  the  general  process  of  transmitting  historical  evidence 
is  substantially  as  described. 

Historical  science  and  other  sciences. — Having  gathered, 
in  this  indirect  and  partially  trustworthy  fashion,  what  it 
believes  to  be  the  facts,  history  deals  with  them  in  the  usual 
scientific  way,  classifying,  generalizing,  explaining  in  terms 
of  cause  and  effect.  Love  of  gain,  of  religious  freedom,  or 
what  not,  caused  our  early  colonists  to  brave  the  dangers 
of  the  deep.  The  principle  of  union  versus  secession  caused 
•our  Civil  War.  History,  then,  is  no  mere  record  of  past 


HISTORY  265 

events;  like  other  sciences  it  consists  of  facts  systematized 
according  to  laws  and  principles. 

However,  this  discovery  of  laws  has  not  proceeded  far  in 
history.  The  tests  of  scientific  knowledge  are  prediction 
and  control:  what  historian  can  predict  the  future,  or  gain 
control  over  the  trend  of  events? 

Moreover,  all  the  past  must  be  explained  in  terms  of  the 
present;  history  cannof  give  as  the  cause  of  a  fact  anything 
which  the  other  sciences  do  not  now  recognize  as  a  cause. 
For  instance,  no  sane  historian  explains  peculiar  conduct 
as  due  to  a  devil;  the  scientific  term  is  epilepsy,  psychas- 
thenia,  or  the  like. 

From  all  this  it  follows  that  history  must  always  be  sub- 
ordinate to  the  sciences  that  deal  with  present-day  experi- 
ence. "The  indirect  method  of  history  is  always  inferior 
to  the  direct  methods  of  the  sciences  of  observation.  If 
its  results  do  not  harmonize  with  theirs,  it  is  history  which 
must  give  way;  historical  science,  with  its  imperfect  means 
of  information,  cannot  claim  to  check,  contradict,  or  correct 
the  results  of  other  sciences,  but  must  rather  use  their  re- 
sults to  correct  its  own.  ...  It  is  kept  at  a  distance  from 
reality  by  its  indirect  means  of  information,  and  must 
accept  the  laws  that  are  established  by  those  sciences  which 
come  into  immediate  contact  with  reality.* 

Social  value  of  history. — If  we  wish  to  understand  the 
value  of  history  to  the  world  at  large,  let  us  imagine  that  all 
historical  knowledge  has  perished.  The  world  would  be 
like  one  who  suddenly  loses  all  memory  of  his  past,  having 
no  adequate  conception  of  the  present  situation  and  its 

*  Langlois  and  Seignobos,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  History, 
pp.  207,  208.  Used  by  permission  of  Henry  Holt  and  Company, 
publishers. 


266  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

meaning.  All  the  great  problems  on  which  history  has 
thrown  light — war,  slavery,  democracy — would  have  to  be 
worked  out  again  from  the  beginning. 

And  history  is  not  only  the  social  memory,  but  also  a 
means  of  social  introspection,  self-examination,  self-revela- 
tion. As  each  of  us,  by  an  examination  of  his  heredity  and 
his  past,  can  find  much  in  his  ancestry,  his  words,  thoughts, 
behavior,  likes,  dislikes,  and  half-born  ideals,  to  indicate 
the  kind  of  person  he  is  and  the  course  he  should  pursue,  so 
can  a  nation,  by  studying  its  history,  learn  of  its  deeper 
nature,  what  its  heart  forces  and  ideals  are,  and  of  its  best 
possible  future.  By  comparing  ourselves  with  other  nations 
we  learn  our  peculiar  genius,  our  world  mission,  and  the 
resources  we  have  for  achieving  it, — minerals,  lands,  forests, 
human  stock.  We  learn  also  of  the  necessity  for  conserving 
all  these  things.  In  a  word,  history  increases  our  national 
and  social  consciousness. 

It  is  frequently  stated  that  history  inculcates  goodness, 
and  especially  patriotism.  In  itself,  as  the  science  of  the 
past,  it  of  course  has  no  bias  in  any  direction.  Its  generali- 
zations favor  some  things  commonly  called  bad,  as  well  as 
what  we  commonly  call  good.  They  may  even  support 
what  is  commonly  regarded  as  unpatriotic.  The  villain  and 
traitor  of  one  party  or  country  may  be  the  first  hero  of 
another.  In  studying  history,  then,  we  should  keep  our 
minds  open,  just  as  we  do  when  we  study  geometry,  botany, 
or  physics.  We  should  try  to  find  out  what,  in  the  long  run, 
goodness,  patriotism,  etc.,  really  are;  what  kind  of  people  we 
are,  and  what  we  should  attempt  to  do  in  the  world. 

But  history  cannot  thus  reveal  our  character  and  destiny, 
unless  a  knowledge  of  it  is  spread  among  our  youth. 

Educational  value  of  history. — Here  again  we  must  guard 


HISTORY  267 

against  supposing  that  our  subject  develops  any  general 
" mental  powers."  It  is  commonly  stated  that  history 
develops  memory,  imagination,  practical  judgment,  love 
of  truth.  It  does  tend  to  educate  memory  for  history, 
historical  imagination,  historical  judgment,  love  of  histori- 
cal accuracy.  And  these  very  abilities  find  large  use  in 
estimating  political  arguments,  in  the  franchise,  in  all  im- 
portant social,  political,  and  civil  relations. 

That  which  we  wish  all  children  to  gain  from  history  is 
an  introduction  to  citizenship  in  the  large  sense.  Not  that 
we  should  strain  the  facts  to  support  our  preformed  ideas  of 
citizenship,  but  let  these  facts,  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils, 
pronounce  their  own  judgment  on  present-day  problems. 
That  which  we  aim  to  predict  and  control,  so  far  as  may  be, 
is  the  social  situation.  We  want  our  young  to  understand 
the  origin  and  development  ofTKs  social  situation,  and  to 
react  upon  it  intelligently.  Just  as  geography  shows  us  the 
earth  as  the  home  of  man,  so  history  should  tell  the  story  of 
man's  struggle  to  make  a  home  on  earth.  How  man  ob- 
tained food  and  shelter,  learned  to  write,  read,  speak  various 
languages;  his  inventions,  thoughts,  morals,  ceremonies; 
his  industries,  ways  of  tilling  the  soil,  of  manufacturing,  of 
transporting,  bartering,  buying,  and  of  securing  cooperation 
in  business;  family  life,  education,  division  into  classes; 
war,  peace,  government;  art  and  science,  especially  as  they 
have  ministered  to  the  larger  human  needs — these  are  the 
lines  of  interest  which  should  guide  us  into  intelligent  world 
citizenship. 

The  psychology  of  history  teaching. — No  matter  what  we 
find  it  desirable  to  teach,  we  are  always  limited  and  com- 
pelled by  the  ability  of  the  learner.  Unless  the  matter  is 
fitted  to  the  powers  of  the  child  our  labor  is  in  vain.  We 


268          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

do  not  teach  the  history  of  philosophy  in  the  primary 
school. 

The  past  includes  the  most  complex  events,  and  the  deep- 
est thoughts  of  man.  To  picture  it,  to  reconstruct  it  for 
one's  self,  demands  such  a  wealth  of  images  and  such  power 
of  imagination  and  thought  as  no  one  can  possess  without 
wide  experience  and  maturity  of  mind.  Inability  to  follow  a 
difficult  text  often  leads  to  discouragement,  verbal  memoriz- 
ing, or  even  complete  misconception.  Ex-President  Roose- 
velt, when  a  boy,  imagined  the  "zeal"  in  "The  zeal  of  thine 
house  hath  eaten  me  up,"  as  a  destructive  animal,  kept 
careful  watch  for  it,  and  inquired  about  it  when  he  went  to 
church.  A  little  miss  who  spoke  glibly  in  recitation  of  "gen- 
eral dissatisfaction  in  the  North,"  explained,  when  ques- 
tioned, that  "General  Dissatisfaction  was  a  Southern 
general!" 

The  boy  may  have  to  interpret  primitive  life  in  terms  of 
camping  out;  court  life  he  appreciates  by  means  of  the 
parties  he  has  attended;  Congress  is  like  his  literary  society, 
except  that  the  program  is  all  debates;  and  war  may  be  the 
mixture  of  killing  pigs  and  the  death  of  a  playmate.  Even 
pictures  can  mean  nothing  unless  the  observer  brings  to 
them  sufficient  experience  to  compass  their  interpretation. 
Evidently  we  must  be  careful  to  teach  that  only  which  the 
experience  of  our  pupils  has  made  it  possible  for  them  to 
apperceive. 

Subject  matter. — Because  the  child's  interests  and  apper- 
ceptive  powers  enlarge  gradually,  the  extreme  proposal 
has  been  made  of  beginning  with  local,  present-day  facts, 
and  proceeding  backward,  in  the  reverse  of  the  usual  time 
order,  to  the  beginnings  of  all  things.  Each  object  or  event 
would  find  its  explanation  in  what  preceded.  This  would 


HISTORY  269 

be  the  opposite  of  the  order  of  all  experience  and  nearly 
all  story-telling.  The  ratchets  on  the  child's  apperceptive 
machinery  work  the  other  way. 

But  to  pull  the  child  out  of  his  modern  settings  and  thrust 
him  precipitately  back  to  the  beginnings  of  history  is  a 
worse  extreme.  We  must  compromise;  if  we  think  of  the 
successive  periods  of  history  as  so.  many  stages  in  a  journey, 
then  it  would  seem  wise  to  let  the  pupil  proceed  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  first  brief  stage,  the  one  nearest  the  present, 
down  to  his  own  day,  retreating  thereafter  to  the  most 
ancient  mile  posts  of  successively  more  distant  and  longer 
periods,  to  repeat  the  home-coming  process.  Thus  the 
young  historian,  as  soon  as  the  serious  study  of  events  in 
chronological  order  begins,  might  commence  with  his  own 
history  and  that  of  his  ancestors,  passing  from  the  study  of 
his  community  to  that  of  his  state,  his  nation,  the  foreign 
nation  most  directly  precedent  of  his  own  in  time — England, 
for  us — and  finally  the  world. 

But  previous  to  the  serious  study  of  events  in  chrono- 
logical order,  mentioned  above,  which  might  begin  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  grade,  much  historical 
work  of  value  can  be  done.  The  great  questions  in  history 
are  Who  and  What?  When  and  Where?  Why  (or  Whence) 
and  Whither?  The  first  two,  Who  and  What,  call  for  a 
personal  story,  but  it  may  be  detached  from  space  and  time, 
unlocated,  perhaps  not  very  well  ordered,  a  sort  of  sensation 
knowledge.  When  and  Where  require  the  space  map  and 
the  time  map,  a  simple  ordering  of  events  as  one  would  have 
perceived  them  had  he  been  there.  Why  and  Whither  de- 
mand cause  and  consequence,  relations  that  are  thought. 
We  thus  have  roughly  indicated  three  stages  of  study, 
corresponding  to  the  development  of  the  learner. 


270          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Of  course,  our  history  should  nowhere  be  a  mere  skeleton 
of  dates  or  a  distemper  of  wars.  Skeletons  are  necessary, 
but  they  are  not  flesh  and  blood.  Distempers  seem  unavoid- 
able, but  they  are  not  health. 

Nor  is  history  simply  the  story  of  politics  and  govern- 
ment. If  we  are  right  in  regarding  history  as  essentially 
an  account  of  man's  attempts  to  make  a  place  for  himself 
on  the  earth,  and  to  manage  satisfactorily  the  affairs  on 
which  his  happiness  depends,  then  it  should  picture  for  us 
such  things  as  country  and  climate;  attempts  at  agriculture, 
mining,  manufacturing,  and  commerce;  the  development 
of  sciences,  arts,  languages,  music;  the  beginnings  of  prop- 
erty holding,  marriage,  and  family  life;  the  growth  of  moral- 
ity, religion,  philosophy,  education;  and  especially  the  rela- 
tions of  nations,  races,  and  states  to  each  other.  * 

Method. — i.  In  the  Who-and-What  stage,  the  primary 
period,  the  history  story  is  paramount,  especially  the  bio- 
graphic story;  and  among  biographic  stories,  those  of  chil- 
dren are  sure  to  be  of  interest  to  children.  The  location 
of  the  events  is  of  no  great  importance,  nor  need  the  char- 
acter presented  be  pictured  as  the  type,  or  representative, 
of  any  time  or  people.  The  best  way  to  find  the  most  in- 
teresting stories  is  by  actual  trial  with  the  group  to  be 
taught.  Pictures  are  always  valuable,  and  dramatization 
is  always  in  order.  When  the  child  has  learned  to  read,  he 
has  unlimited  access  to  such  material. 

2.  In  the  When-and- Where  stage,  which  roughly  speak- 
ing is  the  grammar-school  period,  it  is  advisable  to  use 
textbooks  on  the  spiral  plan,  covering  the  history  of  our 
country,  for  instance,  at  least  twice;  first  briefly,  touching 

*  An  excellent  outline  of  the  subject  matter  of  history  is  found  in 
the  work  of  Langlois  and  Seignobos  (see  References),  p.  234. 


HISTORY  271 

the  larger  events  only,  then  in  fuller  detail,  taking  care  to 
avoid  the  death  valley  of  verbal  memorizing  and  repetition. 
But  as  no  school  history  can  be  complete,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  use  of  type  studies,  one  carefully  studied  colony  being 
used  to  interpret  a  similar  group,  one  detailed  battle  stand- 
ing as  representative  of  a  war,  etc. 

The  time  map  and  the  space  map  become  important.  The 
first  may  be  so  arranged  as  to  place  each  event  in  its  proper 
decade  or  century,  and  at  the  same  time,  by  means  of  par- 
allel columns,  exhibit  contemporaneous  events  in  different 
countries.  The  space  map  should  be  simple,  often  drawn  by 
the  pupil.  He  should  not  see  on  his  map  the  cities,  bound- 
aries, and  roads  of  modern  times,  unless  he  is  studying 
modern  history. 

New  work  should  often  appear  in  the  form  of  a  problem, 
to  solve  which  the  pupil  is  referred  to  historical  sources  if 
they  are  available.  But  the  use  of  sources  at  this  time  is 
like  the  experiments  in  elementary  science,  providing  illus- 
tration rather  than  proof. 

3.  The  Why-and- Whither  period,  the  high  school  and 
college  stage,  may  well  be  characterized  by  the  increased 
study  of  sources  and  the  full  development  of  the  critical 
sense  in  the  use  of  them. 

Civics. — In  a  democratic  country,  where  every  man  has  a 
fraction  of  the  ruling  power,  he  should  know  how  the  ruling 
is  done.  Civics  and  history  must  be  so  clearly  correlated  as 
to  form  practically  one  branch.  Civics  in  its  development 
is  an  actual  part  of  history. 

Here  we  can  get  at  the  sources  with  a  vengeance,  for  all 
can  visit  town  council  or  school  board  meetings,  and  many 
can  take  the  trip  to  state  or  national  capital. 

Participation  in  such  activities  as  will  help  to  interpret 


272  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

history  and  civics  are  extremely  valuable.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  chief  service  of  the  moot  trial,  the  mock  congress,  and 
the  school  town  or  city. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  List  the  dates  which  you  think  a  child  should  memo- 
rize in  studying  United  States  history.    How  can  a  single 
date  be  made  to  stand  for  many  events? 

2.  If  an  author  in  writing  a  history  cannot  give  all  the 
known  facts,  what  principles  should  guide  him  in  selecting 
the  facts  to  be  presented?   How  do  you  think  the  newspaper 
man  solves  this  problem  in  reporting? 

3.  "Class  politics  in  school  or  college  enables  one  to  un- 
derstand the  larger  political  movements  outside."    Discuss 
this  statement. 

4.  Have  you  ever  pictured  some  distant  place  to  your- 
self, and  afterwards  found  your  ideas  of  it  to  be  incorrect? 
How  can  we  be  sure  that  our  mental  picture  of  the  past  is 
correct? 

5.  What  value  can  you  see  in  having  pupils  compare 
various  ages,  countries,  customs,  etc.? 

6.  According  to  the  Binet  tests,  a  child  should  detect 
nonsense  or  inner  contradiction  in  a  story  at  the  age  of 
eleven.     Does  this  have  any  bearing  on  the  method  of 
teaching  history  at  that  age? 

7.  I  propose  to  teach  the  usual  facts  of  general  history 
to  a  beginning  class,  age  seven  or  eight,  by  using  words  of 
one  syllable.    State  your  psychological  objections. 

8.  Show  why  "battle  history,"  that  is,  the  history  of 
wars  chiefly,  is  to  be  condemned. 

9.  You  have  some  pupils  who  do  not  care  for  history,  but 
are  interested  in  art,  inventions,  factories.    What  should 
you  do?    Theoretically,  can  anyone  be  totally  uninterested 
in  history? 

10.  Select  any  historical  event,   as   the  discovery   of 


HISTORY  273 

America,  and  answer  concerning  it  the  questions,  Who? 
What?  When?  Where?  Why?  Whither?  Does  any- 
thing remain  to  be  told? 

11.  Discuss  the  value  of  the  magazine  picture,  post  card, 
stereoscope,  stereopticon,  and  moving  picture,  in  the  teach- 
ing of  history. 

12.  Do  you  know  of  any  historical  material,  spinning 
wheels,  andirons,  letters,  etc.,  in  your  community,  that 
might  be  collected  for  a  school  museum?    What  would  be 
the  value  of  such  a  museum? 

13.  Show  the  use  of  historical  poems  in  teaching  history. 

14.  Discuss   the   correlation   of  history   with   drawing; 
with  composition ;  with  geography. 

15.  Write  an  essay  on  "The  use  of  the  blackboard  in 
history  teaching." 

REFERENCES 

Barnes,  Mary  Sheldon,  Studies  in  Historical  Method. 

Bourne,  Henry  E.,  Teaching  of  History  and  Civics. 

Dewey,  John,  The  School  and  the  Child,  Ch.  7. 

Gilbert,  Charles  B.,  What  Children  Study  and  Why,  Ch.  XXIII, 
XXIV. 

Gordy,  J.  P.,  A  Broader  Elementary  Education,  Ch.  XXII. 

Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  How  to  Study  and  Teach  History. 

Langlois,  Ch.  V.,  and  Seignobos,  Ch.,  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of  History.  (Translated  by  G.  G.  Berry.) 


Science  and  Art  of  Teaching.— 18 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
ART 

"The  movement,  indeed,  represents  in  some  sense  a  revolt  against 
the  hard  mechanical  conventional  life  and  its  insensibility  to  beauty 
(quite  another  thing  to  ornament).  It  is  a  protest  against  that  so- 
called  industrial  progress  which  produces  shoddy  wares,  the  cheapness 
of  which  is  paid  for  by  the  lives  of  their  producers  and  the  degradation 
of  their  users.  It  is  a  protest  against  the  turning  of  men  into  machines, 
against  artificial  distinctions  in  art,  and  against  making  the  immediate 
market  value,  or  possibility  of  profit,  the  chief  test  of  artistic  merit. 
It  also  advances  the  claim  of  all  and  each  to  the  common  possession  of 
beauty  in  things  common  and  familiar,  and  would  awaken  the  sense 
of  this  beauty,  deadened  and  depressed  as  it  now  too  often  is,  either 
on  the  one  hand  by  luxurious  superfluities,  or  on  the  other  by  the 
absence  of  the  commonest  necessities  and  the  gnawing  anxiety  for  the 
means  of  livelihood;  not  to  speak  of  the  everyday  uglinesses  to  which 
we  have  accustomed  our  eyes,  confused  by  the  flood  of  false  taste,  or 
darkened  by  the  hurried  life  of  modern  towns  in  which  huge  aggrega- 
tions of  humanity  exist,  equally  removed  from  both  art  and  nature  and 
their  kindly  and  refining  influences. 

"It  asserts,  moreover,  the  value  of  the  practice  of  handicraft  as  a 
good  training  for  the  faculties,  and  as  a  most  valuable  counteraction 
to  that  overstraining  of  purely  mental  effort  under  the  fierce  competi- 
tive conditions  of  the  day;  apart  from  the  very  wholesome  and  real 
pleasure  in  the  fashioning  of  a  thing  with  claims  to  art  and  beauty,  the 
struggle  with  and  triumph  over  the  stubborn  technical  necessities 
which  refuse  to  be  gainsaid.  And,  finally,  thus  claiming  for  man  this 
primitive  and  common  delight  in  common  things  made  beautiful,  it 
makes,  through  art,  the  great  socializer  for  a  common  and  kindred  life, 
for  sympathetic  and  helpful  fellowship,  and  demands  conditions  under 
which  your  artist  and  craftsman  shall  be  free."  * 

*  Walter  Crane,  "  Of  the  Revival  of  Design  and  Handicraft,"  in  Arts 
and  Crafts  Essays.  Used  by  permission  of  Longmans,  Green  and 
Company,  publishers. 

274 


ART 


275 


EXERCISE.— Go  to  the  shop  and  make  some  article.  If 
possible,  cooperate  with  several  in  a  group  project.  Write 
an  introspective  account  of  your  experience,  and  of  the 
effect  of  the  work  on  you. 

In  the  preceding  three  chapters  we  have  dealt  with 
science  in  general,  and  with  two  special  kinds  of  science, 
mathematics  and  history.  "A  science  teaches  us  to  know 
and  an  art  to  do."  We  now  approach  that  part  of  the  pro- 
gram of  studies  which  demands  doing. 

The  nature  of  art. — Art  is  essentially  a  process  by  which 
raw  material  is  changed  into  a  finished  product;  and  skill, 
the  original  meaning  of  art,  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the 
process  is  under  human  control.  Such  processes  range  all 
the  way  from  the  primitive  chipping  of  a  flint  to  the  deft 
stroke  of  the  modern  master. 

The  general  relationship  of  the  arts  to  each  other  can  be 
shown  by  a  diagram  similar  to  that  used  in  classifying  the 
sciences. 

Illumination  and  guidance 
of  thought  and  feeling, 


Blind  practice, 

Art  is  the  hand  of  man,  as  science  is  his  head.    Science  is 
man  thinking;  art  is  man  doing.    In  the  empirical  stage,  the 


276  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

hand  acquires  a  certain  cunning  by  a  long  process  of  trial 
and  error,  low-level  learning.  But  this  is  confined  mainly 
to  skill  in  isolated  acts,  the  shaping  of  the  iron,  the  guiding 
of  the  saw. 

It  requires  directing  intelligence  to  lay  down  the  line  for 
the  saw.  The  engineer,  with  his  high-level  mentality,  must 
not  only  work  with  scientific  accuracy,  but  he  must  dream 
out  the  things  to  be,  and  have  visions  akin  to  those  of  the 
fine  artist. 

There  is  no  sharp  boundary  line  between  industrial  arts, 
such  as  engineering,  manufacturing,  wood  carving,  and  the 
fine  arts,  sculpture,  architecture,  painting,  poetry,  and  mu- 
sic. But  fine  art  gives  free  wing  to  imagination  and  emo- 
tion, and  is  not  so  much  concerned  with  the  mere  making 
of  a  living  as  it  is  with  the  living  of  an  ideal  life. 

The  social  value  of  art.— To  say  that  this  is  an  age  of 
industrialism  is  to  call  it  an  age  of  art.  The  industrial 
artist  stands  between  us  and  the  stern  demands  of  uncom- 
promising nature.  His  engines  lay  hold  of  the  crude  rock, 
and  ore,  and  timber,  and  soil,  and  turn  out  for  us  our  houses, 
clothing,  food,  means  of  travel.  Were  it  not  for  him  and 
his  contrivances,  we  should  all  have  to  enter  into  a  face-to- 
face  conflict  with  our  formidable  environment,  and  fight 
the  fight  of  primitive  man  once  more. 

We  ought  not  to  fear  industrialism,  business,  the  factory. 
We  should  be  as  thankful  for  all  great  industrial  or  business 
engineers  as  we  are  for  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Panama 
jCanal.  Because  of  the  greatness  of  it  all,  there  is  also  great 
danger, — danger  of  injustice,  of  industrial  oppression,  of 
losing  sight  of  the  individual  workman  and  regarding  him 
as  a  part  of  the  machinery.  But  education  should  be  glad 
of  the  chance  to  help  establish  equal  rights  in  industry,  as 


ART  277 

it  is  already  helping  to  establish  equal  rights  in  politics  and 
in  government. 

The  chief  value  of  fine  art,  so  far  as  the  multitude  o£  us 
are  concerned,  probably  consists  in  expressing  the  great 
truths  of  life,  its  highest  thoughts  and  deepest  emotions, 
in  such  striking  material  forms  that  they  beat  in  upon  our 
senses  from  the  external  world;  making  it  possible  for  us  to 
assimilate  much  truth  and  beauty  which,  left  to  our  own 
limited  brain  processes,  we  should  never  have  spanned. 

Educational  value  of  the  arts. — A  certain  limited  number 
of  arts,  commonly  called  the  school  arts — reading,  writing, 
spelling,  and  speaking  the  mother  tongue,  together  with 
the  art  of  computation — must  ever  form  an  important  part 
of  early  education.  Their  purpose  and  value  are  clear; 
they  are  the  instrumental  arts,  necessary  to  further  educa- 
tion and  indispensable  in  practically  all  vocations. 

The  industrial  arts  seem  to  have  (i)  an  intellectual  value, 
(2)  a  moral-social  value,  and  (3)  a  vocational  value. 

(i)  As  we  well  know,  the  brain  cells  cannot  wake  without 
external  stimulus,  and  one  of  the  best  forms  of  stimuli  is 
undoubtedly  muscular  activity.  The  hands  will  not  work 
long  before  they  call  upon  the  head  to  direct  them,  think 
for  them.  In  the  old-fashioned  school  there  was  too  much  of 
the  throwing-in  process,  too  much  impression,  too  little 
expression.  While  we  measure  men  by  their  productivity, 
their  output,  what  they  can  actually  do,  we  have  been  grad- 
ing children  by  what  they  could  take  in.  It  has  been  shown 
that  development  is  really  quickened  by  devoting  a  part 
of  the  school  time  to  expressive  art;  making  an  object 
insures  better  knowledge  of  it.  In  addition,  an  apperceptive 
basis  is  acquired  for  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  arts  and 
industries  of  the  world. 


278          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

(2)  Perhaps  the  contribution  of  craftsmanship  to  ethical 
culture   is   commonly   overstated.      Sawing   a   board   off 
" square"  need  not  beget  love  for  the  "square  deal."    But 
if  the  nations  that  are  skilled  in  arts  and  crafts  are  most 
highly  moral,  as  they  are  said  to  be,  and  if,  as  statistics 
show,  comparatively  few  state's  prisoners  have  ever  learned 
a  trade,  handwork  and  moral  behavior  may  have  some  vital 
relation. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  touching  elbows  at  the  work- 
bench engenders  a  fellow  feeling  which  makes  against  cleav- 
age into  antagonistic  social  strata,  when  school  days  are 
over.  The  school  is  partly  an  effect,  but  very  largely  a 
cause,  of  the  social  life  that  surrounds  it.  Whatever  is 
wanting  to-day  in  the  educational  ideal  will  be  missed  to- 
morrow in  the  social  and  civic  ideals  of  the  people.  If  labor 
is  to  be  respected  in  society,  it  must  be  respected  in  the 
school.  If  capital  and  labor  are  ever  to  join  hands  for  the 
common  good,  they  should  become  fast  friends  before  their 
school  days  are  over.  To  respect  labor  one  must  under- 
stand it;  to  understand  it  he  himself  must  work.  Thus 
does  one  acquire  sympathy  with  the  whole  great,  struggling, 
misunderstood  industrial  world.  The  future  employer  may 
well  learn  the  workman's  viewpoint  by  being  a  workman; 
and  the  laborer  feels  drawn  to  such  an  employer. 

(3)  One  great  difficulty  with  our  schools  is  that  we  have 
been  so  intent  on  securing  in  them  the  flower  of  civilization 
that  we  have  neglected  the  root.    We  have  been  so  intent 
on  culture  that  we  have  forgotten  vocation.     The  child 
should  learn  from  his  experience  in  school  that  earth  is  the 
great  producer  and  that  industry  is  the  great  transformer; 
he  must  not  be  allowed  to  regard  the  school  as  an  avenue 
to  wealth  without  work. 


ART  279 

There  is  a  foolish  fear  abroad  that  culture  may  be  passed 
by  in  the  quick  inarch  for  vocation,  the  old  idea  being  that 
we  must  proceed  through  culture  to  vocation.  The  new 
education  sees  that  in  the  majority  of  cases  we  must  find 
culture  through  vocation  or  never  find  it  at  all.  There  is 
also  frequent  warning  that  the  man  must  not  be  submerged 
beneath  his  work.  It  is  exactly  in  the  prevention  of  this 
catastrophe  that  the  tendency  toward  industrial  training 
finds  its  highest  vindication.  The  submerged  man  develops 
typically  from  a  boy  who,  tired  out  with  the  graces  of  cul- 
ture, leaves  school  early  and  goes  to  work  without  training. 

We  must  consider  the  submerged  woman  also.  Ninety 
per  cent  of  our  girls  become  home  makers,  and  it  is  not 
pessimistic,  but  truthful,  to  say  that  many  of  them  are 
leading  lives  of  undue  gayety  before  marriage  which  result 
in  undue  anxiety  after  marriage;  having  been  carefully 
shielded  from  all  " kitchen  work/'  they  discover,  with  pain, 
that  parlor  adornments  will  not  suffice.  Industrial  art, 
especially  domestic  art,  not  only  enables  our  girls  to  appre- 
ciate much  in  history  and  in  present  social  conditions,  but 
prevents  the  somber  disenchantment  and  distress  which 
housekeeping  brings  to  the  uninitiated,  insures  neat  cloth- 
ing for  the  household  and  a  button  for  every  buttonhole, 
augurs  good  meals,  good  digestion,  good  health.  Industrial 
art  provides  the  material  basis  for  an  ideal  home. 

Of  course,  not  all  men  will  find  their  vocation  in  industry 
nor  all  women  in  home  making.  But  that  legions  would  be 
thus  benefited  by  the  industrial  arts  we  cannot  doubt.* 

*  The  fine  arts,  too,  have  (i)  an  intellectual-emotional  value,  in 
their  expression  of  great  thoughts  and  feelings  in  simple  forms  that 
appeal  to  the  senses,  and  in  their  development  of  artistic  critical 
power  and  an  appreciation  of  pure  beauty;  (2)  a  moral-social  power,  as 
exemplified  in  folk  and  national  songs,  and  in  the  community  feeling 


28o          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Subject  matter. — In  determining  which  of  the  industrial 
arts  we  shall  teach,  and  to  what  extent,  two  extremes  must 
be  avoided:  (i)  that  of  making  all  children  practice  all 
arts,  and  (2)  that  of  permitting  no  child  to  acquire  any 
industrial  art  as  a  part  of  his  regular  education. 

(i)  No  educational  blunder  is  more  common,  or  more 
productive  of  harm,  than  the  assumption  that  all  children 
are  born  similar  and  equal,  or  at  least,  that  all  should  have 
the  same  training.  It  seems  to  be  quite  commonly  assumed 
that  if  we  provide  work  in  clay,  leather,  brass,  wood,  and 
iron  for  the  grammar  school,  all  grammar  school  pupils  must 
become  proficient  in  all  the  work  provided.  We  cannot  too 
often  reflect  that  diagnosis  should  precede  prescription:  our 
first  duty,  when  a  child  comes  to  us  for  an  education,  is  not 
to  take  him  for  granted  and  proceed  with  the  education,  but 
to  find  out  what  kind  of  child  he  is.  The  child  who  shows  a 
strong  liking  for  the  mechanic  arts,  with  little  ability  for 
anything  else,  may  well  spend  the  major  part  of  his  time 
trying  himself  out  on  various  kinds  of  materials,  processes, 
and  machines. 

On  the  other  hand  the  brain-blest  boy,  who  needs  little 
external  stimulus  to  set  his  subjective  machinery  to  work, 
may  safely  devote  himself  to  the  running  of  his  mental 
mechanism,  and  spend  a  comparatively  small  amount  of 
time  on  any  other. 

The  school  must  be  as  broad  in  its  work  as  is  the  world 
it  serves,  providing  a  multitude  of  activities  for  a  multitude 
of  talents.  This  is  costly,  but  it  means  human  efficiency  and 
attainment,  and  no  thing  is  costly  when  weighed  against  that. 

engendered  by  choral  singing;  (3)  a  vocational  value.  The  latter  is 
important,  for  although  few  devote  themselves  permanently  to  the 
fine  arts,  the  influence  of  these  devotees  on  the  lives  of  the  more 
numerous  common  people  is  often  tremendous. 


ART  281 

(2)  The  second  extreme  consists  in  sharply  separating  all 
industrial  education  from  the  established  general,  liberal 
or  cultural  education.  In  such  a  case,  if  the  boy  needs  most 
an  education  in  mechanics,  he  must  leave  school,  so  to 
speak,  to  get  it.  It  is  futile  to  postpone  this  for  years  in  the 
hope  of  compelling  him  to  absorb  culture  first;  he  will  end 
by  getting  neither.  The  boy  may  sometimes  go  to  the  ma- 
chine in  the  shop  instead  of  having  the  machine  brought 
to  him  in  the  school,  but  there  must  be  one  unified  school 
system,  large  enough  to  include  various  kinds  of  industrial 
training  as  a  part  of  the  regular  education  of  those  who  can 
most  profit  by  it,  and  offered,  not  necessarily  at  any  one 
time  for  all,  but  open  to  each  individual  just  when  he  per- 
sonally can  derive  the  greatest  benefit  from  it. 

Art,  skillful  doing  of  some  kind,  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  pupil,  should  find  a  place  from  the  very  beginning  of 
school  life.  But  it  may  have  to  be  as  indefinite  in  our  cur- 
riculums  as  nature  study  and  elementary  science  are.  We 
may  lay  it  down  as  a  general  principle  that  every  study 
should  have  its  art  side,  its  active  phase,  for  the  sake  of 
expression  and  interpretation.  In  story  study  we  have 
dramatization;  in  geography,  mapping  and  modeling;  in 
history,  the  reproduction  of  primitive  implements  and  in- 
dustries. Music,  drawing,  and  manual  training  can  be 
correlated  with  every  sort  of  undertaking.  But  the  voca- 
tional trend  of  each  pupil,  the  line  of  greatest  interest  and 
ability,  whether  in  agriculture,  or  working  in  wood  or  iron, 
should  determine  which  art  shall  be  pursued  seriously  and 
at  length  for  its  own  sake. 

Method. — As  we  cannot  consider  the  numerous  arts  in- 
dividually here,  it  must  suffice  to  call  attention  to  the  laws 
of  learning,  previously  laid  down. 


282  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

We  must  first  of  all  make  clear  our  aim,  determine  just 
what  is  the  act  to  be  learned,  and  whether  it  shall  be  ren- 
dered fully  automatic,  or  habitual,  or  simply  be  made  more 
definite  and  understandable  by  centering  attention  upon  it 
for  a  time.  But  we  must  consider  the  learner  also,  as  well 
as  the  process  to  be  learned,  and  decide  whether  he  can 
profit  most  by  low-,  mid-,  or  high-level  learning.  We  must 
.all,  to  some  extent,  learn  to  do  by  doing;  but  the  future 
engineer  must  also  be  able  to  learn  to  do  by  learning  how  to 
do, — must  be  able  to  learn  from  the  brain  down  as  well  as 
from  the  hand  up. 

The  best  motive  is  natural  interest,  at  first  what  might 
almost  be  called  a  vocational  instinct,  perhaps  dimly  felt, 
later  becoming  more  and  more  consciously  a  life-career 
motive.  But  as  sensible  teachers  we  must  be  content  with 
and  appeal  to  a  motive  such  as  the. learner  can  appreciate, 
be  it  play  with  the  finished  toy  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  or 
the  "job"  at  the  end  of  the  year,  or  a  joyous  life  based  on 
the  ability  to  render  artistic  service. 

If  then  we  make  clear  to  the  learner  just  what  he  is  to 
do", — especially  by  doing  it  ourselves;  if  we  help  him  to  keep 
himself  in  good  condition  of  nerve  and  muscle,  and  applied 
to  his  task;  if  we  support  his  self-confidence  and  interest  by 
cheering  him  over  the  plateaus  of  slow  and  grinding  prog- 
ress, we  fix  the  essential  conditions  of  successful  method. 
The  technique  must  depend  on  the  nature  of  the  particular 
undertaking;  but  sympathy,  imitation,  and  suggestion  are 
of  strong  value  in  teaching  technique  of  whatever  kind.* 

*  With  regard  to  the  fine  arts,  experimental  pedagogy  contributes 
some  interesting  facts:  that  the  younger  the  child,  the  less  stable  is  he 
in  his  emotional  life,  and  the  more  suggestible;  that  girls  have  the 
higher  appreciation  for  color,  boys  for  form;  that  the  younger  the 
child  the  less  critically  he  judges  a  picture  as  a  picture,  passing  at  once 


ART  283 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Should  manual  training  be  continued  throughout  the 
usual  college  course?    Why? 

2.  Name  some  arts  that  would  fall  into  each  of  the  divi- 
sions given  in  the  classification  of  the  arts. 

3.  Write  on  "The  place  of  pictures  in  my  education," 
giving  your  earliest  memories  of  pictures,  etc.,  and  estimat- 
ing their  influence  on  your  development. 

4.  Do  you  think  the  old-fashioned  school,  in  which  labor 
found  little  place,  had  anything  to  do  with  the  many  present 
conflicts  between  labor  and  capital? 

5.  If  one  has  to  miss  either  culture  (liberal  education) 
or  vocation,  which  should  he  make  sure  of? 

6.  Give  some  reasons  why  the  mistress  in  the  parlor  and 
the  maid  in  the  kitchen  have  so  many  misunderstandings 
and  disagreements. 

7.  Criticize  these  statements:  "We  must  not  teach  trades 
to  young  boys,  for  they  are  not  old  enough  to  choose  their 
life  work."    "The  boy  who  can  learn  a  trade  in  the  gram- 
mar school  will  never  seek  the  liberal  culture  of  the  high 
school."    "There  is  no  room  for  industrial  arts:  our  pro- 
grams of  study  are  already  overloaded." 

8.  Should  "the  boy"  be  kept  on  the  farm?    Or  should 
some  boys  (who  by  nature  take  to  farming)  stay  on  the 
farm,  while  others  leave  it  to  pursue  their  vocations  else- 
where?   Should  agriculture  be  taught  in  rural  schools  with 
the  express  purpose  of  keeping  boys  on  the  farm? 

9.  Should  'we  allow  anyone  to  learn  a  trade  without 
taking  a  large  amount  of  cultural  work  in  connection  with  it? 
Should  we  permit  a  terrier  to  chase  rats  before  he  has 

to  its  meaning;  that  young  children  (up  to  about  eight  years)  tend  to 
omit  the  decorative  and  include  the  utilitarian  in  their  drawing;  and 
that  discrimination  of  melody  and  rhythm,  and  emotional  apprecia- 
tion of  both,  develop  markedly  at  about  the  age  of  nine,  rhythm  being 
the  more  highly  appreciated  and  better  remembered.  (See  Robert  R. 
Rusk's  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education,  Ch.  IX.) 


284  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

learned,  like  the  St.  Bernard,  to  rescue  lost  travelers? 
Should  we  permit  a  cobbler  to  mend  our  shoes  before  we 
have  tested  him  on  writing  sonnets? 

10.  Work  out  in  detail  some  possible  correlations  of 
manual  training  with  other  branches  of  study. 

REFERENCES 

Carlton,  Frank  Tracy,  Education  and  Industrial  Evolution. 

Dopp,  Katharine  Elizabeth,  The  Place  of  Industries  in  Ele- 
mentary Education. 

Griggs,  Edward  Howard,  The  Philosophy  of  Art. 

Ham,  Charles  H.,  Mind  and  Hand. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.,  Beginnings  in  Industrial  Education. 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Every-day  Problems  in  Teaching,  Chs.  VI,  VII. 

Ware,  Fabian,  Educational  Foundations  of  Trade  and  Indus- 
try. 

Arts  and  Crafts  Essays,  by  Members  of  the  Arts  and  Crafts 
Society. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

LANGUAGE 

"  Never,  until  the  idea  that  composition  is  a  'study'  to  be  learned 
from  a  book  is  banished  from  the  school,  will  children  be  taught  to 
write  properly.  Among  the  severest  criticisms  made  upon  the  com- 
mon school  are  these:  "The  reading  and  spelling  are  poor/  'The  me- 
chanical work  in  arithmetic  is  laborious  and  inaccurate/  'The  com- 
position is  bad';  and  these  are  faults  that  can  be  corrected  only 
through  practice.  There  can  be  no  greater  mistake  in  relation  to  the 
first  stages  of  school  education  than  that  the  rationale  of  a  process  is 
immediately  valuable.  A  painter  or  musician  knows  his  technical 
rules  and  his  science,  but  neither  his  technical  rules  nor  his  science  can 
take  the  place  of  technique  or  execution.  It  is  by  no  means  always 
true  that  a  mathematician  is  'good  in  figures';  on  the  other  hand,  he  is 
often  poor.  It  is,  therefore,  extremely  important  that  the  teacher 
should  clearly  see  whether  the  end  to  which  a  school  exercise  looks  is 
skill  or  knowledge — practical  power  or  intellectual  power."  * 

EXERCISE. — A  teacher  attempts  to  teach  some  boys  to 
skate,  and  also  to  use  their  mother  tongue  well.  On  the  ice, 
they  proceed  at  once  to  copious  practice  under  coaching, 
but  without  rules,  and  soon  become  proficient;  in  the 
schoolroom,  they  first  have  many  language  rules  and  gram- 
matical principles,  followed  by  scanty  practice  and  medio- 
cre success.  Comment  on  the  situation,  comparing  (a)  the 
previous  experience  of  the  pupils,  (b)  the  nature  of  the  task 
and  the  boys'  probable  interest  in  it,  and  (c)  the  method 
used.  Could  the  subject  matter  of  language  be  made  as 
interesting  as  skating?  Would  the  same  subject  matter 
be  equally  interesting  to  all  pupils?  What  can  be  done 
about  it? 

*  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  Teaching  the  Language  Arts.  Used  by  permission 
of  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  publishers. 

285 


286  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Nature  of  language. — We  have  discussed  science  and  art, 
with  special  attention  to  two  kinds  of  science,  mathematics 
and  history.  There  remains  an  art  which,  because  it  serves 
all  and  must  be  taught  to  all,  deserves  separate  treatment: 
it  is  the  art  of  language. 

Of  course  there  is  a  science  of  language — it  has  several 
sciences,  of  which  grammar  is  a  well-known  example.  But 
grammar  did  not  make  language:  the  language  came  first, 
the  grammar  afterward ;  the  art  leading,  the  scienffi  follow- 
ing.  And  so  should  it  be  in  the  teaching  of  language. 

Social  value.  —Let  language  perish,  and  we  should  either 
re-invent  it  or  herd  with  the  brutes.  Printing  has  well  been 
called  the  art  preservative  of  all  other  arts.  Language  in 
the  broad  sense,  communication  of  some  kind,  is  certainly 
an  indispensable  tool  in  all  our  progress. 

Words  are  also  an  aid  to  thinking,  and  hence  to  progress. 
Thinking  without  words  is  about  such  an  undertaking  as 
difficult  mathematics  would  be  for  most  of  us  without  pen- 
cil and  paper,  or  even  a  stick  and  a  sand  plot.  A  word  is  a 
kind  of  signpost  which  marks  a  place  on  our  mental  map.  * 

Finally,  a  large  part  of  the  social  value  of  language  con- 
sists in  making  us  social.  All  that  we  are  or  can  hope  to  be, 
we  owe  to  the  fact  that  our  primitive  fathers  loved  to  get 
together  and  talk !  By  such  social  communication  we  come 
to  understand  each  other,  sympathize,  imitate,  emulate, 
become  socially  efficient.  We  can  see  this  in  the  classroom, 
clubroom,  literary  society,  even  in  the  street.  Nations,  too, 
/  can  understand  each  other  better  when  each  learns  the 
\j  other's  language. 

*  How  much  experience  can  be  compressed  into  a  single  word,  we 
can  see  from  the  dictionary  and  from  such  books  as  Trench's  Study  of 
Words. 


LANGUAGE  287 

Language  as  educational  material.— Language  has  the 
same  value  in  school  that  it  has  outside,  (i)  It  enables  us 
to  get  and  to  give  ideas,  (2)  it  is  a  good  tool  for  the  thinker, 
and  (3)  its  practice,  since  it  always  involves  at  least  two 
persons,  is  essentially  a  social  practice. 

But  we  must  never  forget  that  words  cannot  take  the 
place  of  things.*  They  are  like  paper  money,  of  no  value 
except  as  they  stand  for  something  beyond  themselves. 
The  younger  the  child  the  more  necessary  it  is  that  per- 
ceptive experience  of  objects  shall  precede  the  word  used  to 
name  that  experience.  The  birth  (of  the  experience)  must 
precede  the  christening. 

Nor  can  words  take  the  place  of  .ideas.  We  cannot  give 
a  man  big  thoughts  by  teaching  him  big  words,  nor  make 
him  wise  'by  teaching  him  many  languages.  As  a  great 
language  never  made  a  great  nation,  but  great  nations  have 
felt  the  need  of  and  made  great  languages,  so  language  will 
not  form  a  great  soul,  but  a  great  soul  requires  high  linguis- 
tic power  to  express  itself.  To  think  that  language  makes 
the  man  is  about  as  incorrect  as  to  think  that  clothes  make 
the  man. 

Language,  then,  is  an  instrument.  Its  use  is  an  art. 
One  who  has  learned  it  is  like  one  who  has  learned  to  strike 
all  the  typewriter  keys;  he  may  or  may  not  have  ideas  to 
express. 

To  make  language  the  core  of  all  curriculums,  as  we  are 
often  urged  to  do,  would  be,  for  many  children,  like  sub- 
stituting the  reflection  for  the  real  object.  Each  child's 
curriculum  must  have  its  own  vocational  core,  about  which 
all  else  is  organized.  But  we  must  remember  in  every  case 
that  some  language  is  necessary,  whatever  the  vocation. 

*  See  page  69. 


288  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Subject  matter. — In  order  to  make  use  of  language,  we 
must  be  able  (i)  to^elLjdiaJLKoxds^mean,  and  (2)  to  use 
words  to  tell  what  we  mean.  In  the  first  case  we  are  either 
reading  or  listening  to  words;  in  the  second,  we  are  speaking 
or  writing  words.  To  know  language  then,  one  must  know 
"words,  words,  words,"  and  how  words  go  together. 

First  and  foremost  a  child  must  learn  to  listen  and  to 
talk.  Talking  is  learned  largely  by  listening,  partly  by  prac- 
tice. Unfortunately,  in  many  cases  the  children  are  turned 
over  to  us  with  bad  language  habits  already  formed  by  home 
and  street.  But  at  any  rate  the  teacher's  work  begins  with 
the  babble  of  the  first  days  at  school.  We  must  arrange  such 
rousing  experiences  as  will  spontaneously  let  loose  a  medley 
of  tongues,  and  we  must  bestow  high  praise  on  such  primi- 
tive elocution  as  we  can  challenge  forth.  To  check  the  chil- 
dren with  too  much  correctness  at  this  stage  may  mean 
permanent  discouragement.  And  as  the  world  talks  more 
than  it  writes,  so  must  our  language  work,  from  first  to  last, 
be  mainly  (6raD  We  teachers  are  too  much  afraid.olha.ving 
a  social  good  time  with  our  pupils. 

It  is  difficult  to  talk  while  listening  to  some  one  else; 
yet  this  is  what  the  pupil  must  do  when  he  reads,  except 
that  he  listens  with  his  eyes,  so  to  speak.  That  is,  he  must 
at  the  same  time  perceive  words  and  pronounce  words,  and 
the  eye  must  run  ahead  of  the  tongue,  the  perceiving  ahead 
of  the  pronouncing.  He  must  learn  to  gather  words  by  the 
eye-full,  almost  automatically,  so  that  he  can  fix  his  mind 
on  expression. 

To  some  extent,  this  kind  of  double  process  runs  through 
all  language  work.  In  conversation,  one  must  listen  and  at 
the  same  time  think  of  a  reply.  In  writing,  one's  thoughts 
should  speed  on  in  advance  of  pen  or  typewriter.  In  public 


LANGUAGE  289 

speaking,  one  must  learn  how  to  pronounce  a  phrase  or 
sentence  while  sending  the  mind  on  to  prepare  the  next  for 
utterance. 

It  is  plain  that  in  forming  these  difficult,  double  habits, 
the  essential  is  practice.  There  is  no  secret  short  cut;  here 
we  learn  to  do  by  doing. 

We  can  now  fix  the  place  of  English  grammar.  It  has 
about  the  same  value  as  a  difficult  Manual  of  Skating 
would  have  for  the  boy  on  the  ice  pond,  or  a  prosy  and  pic- 
tureless  manual  of  swimming  for  the  one  in  the  water.  Such 
high-level  learning  is  out  of  place  with  young  pupils.  It 
should  be  introduced  whenever  the  pupil  develops  high- 
level  language  ability  and  shows  an  interest  in  the  subject. 
For  some  children  this  may  be  in  the  grammar  school;  for 
others,  in  the  high  school;  for  still  others,  never.  Where 
all  pupils  are  required  to  take  it  at  an  early  age,  most  of 
them  should  be  allowed  to  pass  it  with  very  moderate  at- 
tainments. 

Literature. — One  essential  thing  to  learn  here  is  that 
literature  cannot  take  the  place  of  life.  We  are  in  danger  of 
supposing,  when  we  have  taught  the  child  to  read,  that  all 
life  and  experience  are  now  open  to  him.  But  the  joys  and 
sorrows  of  humanity  mean  nothing  before  one  has  had  joys 
and  sorrows  of  his  own.  We  must  interpret  literature 
through  life  before  we  can  interpret  life  through  literature. 

Lessons  in  literature  (when  one  has  gained  experience 
enough  to  interpret  them)  are  chiefly  appreciation  lessons. 
They  convey  some  information,  arouse  some  thought,  and 
encourage  skill  in  expression;  but  their  highest  value  lies 
in  the  fact  that  they  are  verbal  moving-picture  shows.  If 
the  author  knows  life,  his  pictures  are  true  to  life;  they  teach 
us  what  happens,  in  the  long  run,  to  the  fool,  the  knave, 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching. — 19 


2QO          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

the  proud,  the  wise,  the  righteous.  They  show  us  how 
marriage  and  other  adventures  turn  out.  They  help  us  to 
appreciate  life  situations,  and  to  decide  which  is  to  be  our 
character,  and  how  we  shall  play  our  part. 

Our  children  need  literature  in  abundance, — such  litera- 
ture as  they  can  appreciate.  It  is  fortunate  if  the  pupil  can 
be  permitted  to  follow  his  own  choice,  to  show  us,  by  his 
literary  taste,  and  by  his  choice  of  selections  to  memorize, 
what  kind  of  soul  he  has.  If  the  children  are  brought  into 
contact  with  such  literature  as  answers  to  their  individual 
brain-set,  if  it  is  the  literature  itself  and  not  a  mere  study 
about  literature,  and  if  they  are  given  such  aid  as  they  need 
to  interpret  the  difficult  portions,  we  have  satisfied  the  es- 
sential conditions. 

Method. — If  there  is  anything  the  discoursing  public, 
young  and  old,  needs  to  realize,  it  is  that  when  words  are 
used  they  should  be  used  for  something.  Woodrow  Wilson 
is  to  be  commended  for  his  college  practice  of  refusing  to 
take  part  in  a  debate  unless  he  could  argue  with  conviction. 
His  aim  was  not  merely  to  appear  before  an  audience,  but 
to  convince.  Our  schools  need  less  of  the  perfunctory  prac- 
tice of  language,  and  more  of  the  sincere  and  purposeful 
effort  which  grows  naturally  from  life  itself.  Help  the 
pupil  to  make  clear  his  purpose  then,  whether  to  "tell 
something"  or  "make  one  feel"  so  and  so,  or  "get  one  to 
do"  thus  and  so. 

Our  next  great  dictum,  perhaps  first  in  importance,  is  to 
hup  life.  iTiVmf  ftf  fimjjiilh"  Our  stilted  (and  borrowed) 
compositions,  declamations  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
the  declaimer,  and  school  readers  whose  literature  is  years 
beyond  the  range  of  the  pupil  are  conspicuous  examples  of 
our  failure  at  this  point.  Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart 


LANGUAGE  291 

the  mouth  should  speak,  and  not  alone  from  the  pages  of  an 
encyclopedia,  or  from  a  brain  which  has  been  mechanically 
impressed  into  service  as  sort  of  phonograph  record.  Where- 
ever  there  is  a  real  spring,  it  will  find  its  way  out.  Where- 
ever  there  is  abundant  life,  the  teacher  could  not  suppress 
it.jf  she  would:  the  chief  need  is  for  direction  and  control. 

lis  wealth  of  personal  thought  and  feeling  is  just  as  neces- 
sary for  reading  and  interpretation  as  for  composition  and 
public  speaking. 

Granted  the  presence  of  something  to  say  or  to  be  read, 
and  a  clear  conception  of  its  nature  and  purpose,  what  more 
is  necessary?  The  essentials  seem  to  be:  (i)  repeated  con- 
tact with  appropriate  models;  (2)  imitation  of  such  models; 
(3)  comparison,  criticism,  and  repeated  effort;  (4)  the  grad- 
ual acquisition  of  the  power  and  habit  of  self-criticism. 

(1)  The  poet  needs  to  read  many  poems  of  the  kind  he 
writes;  the  orator  should  read  and  listen  to  many  orations. 
As  the  teacher  is  "the  way"  by  which  the  child  comes  into 
contact  with  the  world,  she  must  procure  these  models. 
Woe  to  the  pupils  if  their  teacher  has  never  really  learned 
to  read  and  write!    She  must  rely  on  visitors,  on  literature, 
on  the  phonograph,— the  better  kind,— and  on  the  best 
artists  among  her  pupils. 

(2)  Franklin,  by  his  method  of  learning  to  read  and  write 
good  English,,  has  taught  us  the  value  of  imitation.    One 
may  not  only  be  ignorant  of  the  science  of  his  art:  he  may 
not  even  know  its  verbal  rules.    A  four-year-old  brought 
up  in  an  environment  of  good  language  often  speaks  better 
English  than  a  college  graduate  whose  youthful  tongue 
imitated  bad  models.    In  the  early  stages  of  the  art,  at  least, 
we  should  acquire  skill  in  language  as  we  acquire  skill  in  a 
game  or  sport. 


292  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

(3)  Imitation  usually  means  mid-level  learning;  "com- 
parison" and  "criticism"  of  a  very  useful  but  not  highly 
analytic  kind  may  occur  on  the  same  level.    The  child  can 
usually  be  made  to  feel  where  his  fault  is,  even  when  he  is 
unable  to  discern  clearly  just  what  is  the  matter.    But  it 
is  essential  to  learn  in  some  way  which  side  of  the  mark  the 
stray  bullets  are  going,  if  we  are  ever  to  learn  to  shoot 
straight. 

(4)  Self-criticism  is  likely  to  involve  an  intellectual, 
analytical,  high-level  activity.     We  should  encourage  it 
wherever  we  find  capacity  for  it,  and  lead  up  to  some 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  language.    Here  we  enter  the 
expert  stage. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Look  up,  in  Franklin's  Autobiography,  his  method  of 
learning  to  use  good  English,  and  outline  the  essential  steps. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  the  chief  acts  of  skill  which  you  have 
acquired.    What  has  been  the  general  process? 

3.  We  often  quote  the  dictionary  as  authority:  what 
authority  lies  back  of  the  dictionary?    What  is  the  ultimate 
source  of  authority  in  the  use  of  language? 

4.  Name  some  of  the  advantages  that  would  follow  if  we 
could  have  but  one  letter  for  each  sound  and  one  sound  for 
each  letter.    Is  such  an  ideal  worth  working  for? 

5.  Some  teachers  of  foreign  language  compel  their  pupils 
to  perform  each  act,  so  far  as  possible,  while  saying  the 
words  descriptive  of  it.    Comment  on  the  practice.    Should 
you  use  this  method  in  teaching  the  mother  tongue?    Why? 

6.  Discuss  the  topic,  "Kindergarten  versus  home,  as  an 
aid  to  the  use  of  correct  English." 

7.  A  lecture  on  "The  nature  of  our  number  system"  is 
delivered  in  flowery  style,  ornamented  with  poetic  quota- 


LANGUAGE  293 

tions,   and  graced  with   dramatic   climax  and   sweeping 
gestures:  just  what,  if  anything,  is  wrong? 

8.  Watch  yourself  carefully  for  a  time  and  find  how  often 
you  catch  yourself  imitating  another's  language.     When 
you  hear  a  striking  phrase,  are  you  likely  to  let  it  die,  or 
try  its  effect  soon  on  some  one  else? 

9.  Try  to  account  psychologically  for  the  spread  and 
popularity  of  slang. 

10.  If  we  all  "know  better"  than  to  use  poor  English, 
having  studied  grammar,  why  do  we  not  always  do  better? 

11.  Write  an  introspective  account  of  "How  I  learned  to 
read."    Mention  any  improvements  which  you  think  could 
have  been  made  on  the  method. 

12.  Can  you  speak  or  read  readily  any  foreign  language 
you  have  learned?    Comment  on  this. 

13.  Show  points  of  similarity  between  your  learning  to 
read  a  foreign  language,  and  a  child's  learning  to  read  Eng- 
lish.   What  help  does  the  memory  of  your  own  difficulties 
give  you  in  understanding  those  of  the  child? 

REFERENCES 

Carpenter,  Baker  and  Scott,  Teaching  of  English. 

Chubb,  Percival,  Teaching  of  English. 

Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  Teaching  the  Language  Arts. 

La  Rue,  Daniel  Wolford,  "Philosophy  of  the  Elementary 
Language  Course,"  Education,  Vol.  XXX,  pp.  74-83. 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  Every-day  Problems  in  Teaching,  Ch.  VIII. 

Palmer,  George  Herbert,  Self-cultivation  in  English. 

Rusk,  Robert  R.,  Introduction  to  Experimental  Education, 
Chs.  XIV-XVI. 

Tompkins,  Arnold,  Science  of  Discourse. 


PART  FIVE 

EDUCATIONAL   PRACTICE    AS    INFLU- 
ENCED BY  THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEAL 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

MORAL  EDUCATION 

"A  beautiful  form  is  better  than  a  beautiful  face;  a  beautiful  be- 
havior is  better  than  a  beautiful  form:  it  gives  a  higher  pleasure  than 
statues  or  pictures;  it  is  the  finest  of  the  fine  arts.  A  man  is  but  a  little 
thing  in  the  midst  of  the  objects  of  nature,  yet  by  the  moral  quality 
radiating  from  his  countenance,  he  may  abolish  all  considerations  of 
magnitude,  and  in  his  manners  equal  the  majesty  of  the  world."  * 

EXERCISE.. — Recall  vividly  your  conduct  in  the  elemen- 
tary school.  What  were  the  chief  influences  that  kept  you 
good?  What  led  you  to  do  your  bad  deeds? 

Do  you  think  there  can  be  a  science  of  human  conduct? 
An  art?  Why? 

We  have  found  (Chapter  IV)  three  kinds  of  education, 
physical,  moral,  and  vocational.  The  first  has  been  treated 
(Chapter  V).  In  this  closing  part  of  our  study,  we  shall 
consider  the  remaining  two. 

Conduct  should  have  a  scientific  basis. — This  much 
seems  certain:  we  live  in  a  very  substantial,  orderly  world, 
where  facts  are  facts,  and  where  things  happen  according 
to  law.  If  our  behavior  is  not  built,  from  the  foundation  up, 
squarely  on  these  facts  and  laws,  then  there  is  something 
the  matter  with  the  behavior.  There  is  no  special  conceal- 
ment or  special  revelation  in  nature,  concerning  matters 
of  human  conduct;  they  are  just  as  open  and  just  as  hidden 

*  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Essay  on  Manners.  Used  by  permission 
of  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  publishers. 

297 


298          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

as  the  affairs  of  psychology,  of  sociology,  of  economics,  or  of 
any  other  undertaking  that  involves  human  nature.  This 
means  that  ethics  is  a  possible  science.  But  it  is  still  in  a 
very  crude  state  of  development. 

If  we  are  right  in  coupling  science  and  conduct  in  this 
way,  it  will  pay  us  to  reflect  at  this  point  on  the  following 
statements: 

1.  Scientific  method  should  be  followed  in  the  teaching  of 
morality.     If  morality  cannot  be  taught  at  all,  then  no 
method  is  as  good  as  any  method;  but  if  it  can,  we  should 
have  a  pedagogy  of  morality  as  we  have  a  pedagogy  of 
arithmetic  and  of  manual  training.    Perhaps  we  rely  too 
much  on  moral  miracles,  too  little  on  the  slow,  plain,  old- 
fashioned,  laborious  methods  which  have  proved  themselves 
in  other  directions  by  winning  for  us  our  greatest  triumphs. 
No  get-good-quick  method  that  will  answer  for  all  has  ever 
been  discovered. 

2.  Behavior  =  organism  +  stimulus.    We  never  doubt 
this  when  the  organism  is  a  plant  or  a  very  low  animal  such 
as  an  oyster,  perhaps  not  even  in  the  case  of  a  year-old 
infant.    The  baby  is  not  to  blame;  he  "  cannot  help  "  getting 
angry  when  something  hurts  him.    But  the  behavior  of  the 
child  soon  becomes  so  complex  that  we  accuse  him  of  having 
a  "will  of  his  own."    Whoever  makes  such  a  charge  should 
be  compelled  to  prove  it.    Human  nature,  like  the  world 
outside,  is  governed  by  laws.    If  we  know  these  laws,  if  we 
are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  "make-up"  of  any  given 
individual,  we  can  choose  and  apply  to  him  just  the  right 
stimulus  to  bring  forth  any  reaction  that  we  desire,  and  of 
which  he  is  capable.     Solomon  knew  that  the  real  mother 
would  protest  against  the  severing  of  her  babe. 

At  first,  every  strong  stimulus  starts  an  impulse  that 


MORAL    EDUCATION  299 

goes  over  into  action  on  the  spot,  as  the  puppy  chases  the 
cat  and  the  baby  eats  jam,  at  sight.  But  experience  usually 
develops  inhibitors  to  stop  our  reckless  impulses;  when  the 
puppy  has  felt  the  claws  of  the  cat  and  the  baby  has  made 
himself  sick,  both  learn  self-restraint.  But  some  persons 
cannot  develop  such  inhibitors.  "Such  a  person  may  have 
perfect  'society  manners/  but  on  occasion  will  take  from 
shops  articles  for  which  she  has  no  need;  or  another  is 
regarded  as  a  valuable  member  of  his  community,  a  leading 
member  of  the  bar,  but  about  once  a  year  consumes  a  nearly 
lethal  quantity  of  alcoholic  drinks;  or  another  is  an  agree- 
able, generous,  affectionate  young  fellow  who,  about  once 
a  month,  secretly  sets  fire  to  buildings  in  order  to  feed  an 
irresistible  love  of  the  excitement  produced  by  the  flames."  * 

3.  The  organism  is  largely  determined  by  heredity.  Here, 
again,  is  a  truth  which  we  are  willing  to  admit  as  applicable 
to  plants  and  lower  animals,  and  which  doubtless  holds 
when  applied  to  human  beings  also. 

"Even  in  numerous  elements  of  mood  and  behavior  the 
influence  of  the  hereditary  make-up  is  striking.  One  person 
is  prevailingly  elated,  jovial,  irrepressible;  another  quiet, 
depressed,  melancholic;  another  still,  alternates  in  these 
moods,  and  when  elated  he  believes  he  can  do  anything,  but 
when  depressed  a  sense  of  helplessness  overpowers  him. 
Again,  one  person  is  original  and  independent  while  another 
is  always  imitative.  Here  is  a  famous  lecturer  who  has 
quelled  mobs  with  his  eloquence  but  who  is  prevailingly 
diffident;  while  there  is  a  woman  who  has  lived  always  in 
the  backwoods  and  is  as  forward  as  a  Canada  jay.  Sin- 
cerity or  insincerity,  generosity  or  stinginess,  gregariousness 

*  C.  B.  Davenport.  Used  by  permission  of  the  Popular  Science 
Monthly. 


300          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

or  exclusiveness,  truthfulness  or  untruthfulness, — all  are 
qualities  whose  presence  or  absence  is  determined  largely 
by  the  factor  of  heredity.* 

4.  The  organism  is  highly  individuated.    Our  natures  are 
as  different  as  our  figures  and  faces.    Personality  is  almost 
infinitely  various;  and  hence  the  surest  way  to  be  morally 
unfair  is  to  "  treat  all  just  alike."     One  child  needs  the 
stimulus  of  scolding  or  whipping  and  is  improved  by  it; 
another  who  commits  the  "same"  offense,  does  not  need 
such  punishment  and  would  be  injured  by  it.    Some  boys 
who  steal  should  be  placed  in  a  reform  school;  others  should 
be  furnished  the  breakfast  they  could  not  obtain  before  they 
left  home  in  the  morning. 

5.  The  organism  should  be  maintained  in  fit  condition. 
Ordinary  observation  shows  us  that  much  bad  conduct  is 
directly  traceable  to  poor  food,  bad  air,  fatigue,  lack  of 
sleep,  indigestion  or  other  disease.    It  is  quite  compatible 
with  the  doctrine  of  heredity  that  we  should  behave  differ- 
ently under  different  physical  conditions.    The  starved  and 
jaded  horse  may  balk;  rested  and  well  fed,  he  may  exert 
himself  without  remonstrance. 

On  the  other  hand,  much  avoidable  badness  results  from 
the  accumulation  of  an  overplus  of  nervous  energy.  The 
pranks  of  overfed  horses  and  of  the  idle  rich  are  illustrative 
of  this.  The  old  prayer  holds  good  of  nervous  energy  as 
well  as  of  economic  wealth:  "Give  me  neither  poverty  nor 
riches." 

6.  Stimuli  must  be  adapted  to  individuals.    We  load  the 
machine  according  to  the  strain  it  will  stand;  we  should 
show  equally  good  sense  in  dealing  with  fellow  creatures. 
The  child  with  an  inheritance  of  bad  temper  must  not  be 

*  C.  B.  Davenport.    See  footnote  to  previous  quotation. 


MORAL    EDUCATION  301 

teased.  The  weakling  in  arithmetic  must  be  forgiven  his 
weakness  and  permitted  to  "pass  "  if  he  would  be  better  off, 
on  the  whole,  in  the  next  grade.  The  remark  which  one 
friend  takes  graciously  offends  another  deeply;  we  should 
act  accordingly.  It  should  be  to  us  one  of  the  finest  adapta- 
tions of  moral  economy  thus  to  supplement  our  mutual 
strengths  and  weaknesses. 

7.  Society  should  not  expect  the  same  maximum  of  morality 
from  all.  This  is  evident  if  the  preceding  statements  are 
true.  There  are  born  fine  artists  in  conduct  as  there  are  in 
music  and  painting.  We  cannot  hope  to  make  all  pupils 
expert  readers,  carpenters,  or  spellers.  Much  less  can  we 
hope  to  make  them  all  artists  in  fine  living.  We  must 
content  ourselves  in  many  cases  with  passing  morality. 
"From  each  according  to  his  powers,  to  each  according  to 
his  needs,"  is  an  excellent  social-moral  precept. 

Moreover,  this  hereditary  moral  nature  and  naturally 
fine  conduct  should  be  the  first  qualification  of  every 
teacher.  She  should  be  a  highly  trained  and  self-disciplined 
specialist  in  the  intricate  technique  of  right  living.  We 
cannot  sacrifice  this  in  the  teaching  craft,  not  even  for  the 
intellect  of  a  genius. 

Aim  of  moral  education. — Having  reminded  ourselves 
that  we  must  proceed  scientifically  here  as  elsewhere,  and 
not  depend  on  miracles  in  morals  any  more  than  we  do  in 
physics,  and  having  examined  some  of  the  limitations  which 
well-established  facts  impose  upon  us,  we  may  now  consider 
more  minutely  the  purpose  we  may  reasonably  hope  to 
achieve,  preparatory  to  a  choice  of  methods  to  accom- 
plish it. 

Our  general  arm  is  to  make  people  good  and  to  secure  the 
performance  of  good  acts. 


302          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

What  constitutes  the  good?— An  act  must  be  judged  by 
its  results;  a  person  by  his  intention  in  any  particular  case. 
If  I  try  to  shoot  an  upright  man,  but  accidentally  kill  his 
murderous  enemy  who  was  about  to  strike  him  down,  I 
am  bad,  but  my  act  is  good. 

But  even  persons  must  be  judged  in  the  long  run  by  the 
results  of  their  lives.  The  grinning  fool  and  the  shrewd 
rascal  are  different,  but  both  "bad,"  since  their  presence  is 
a  harm  to  society.  Both  should  be  "punished,"  that  is, 
subjected  to  stimuli  that  will  call  out  the  best  reaction  each 
is  capable  of.  Probably  the  fool  should  be  kept  in  gentle 
restraint  until  his  useless  life  goes  out;  the  rascal,  according 
to  his  kind,  should  be  subjected  to  simple  kindness,  or  an 
education,  or  stripes,  or  imprisonment. 

Are  we  to  teach  a  science  or  an  art? — In  teaching  our  pu- 
pils to  act  with  good  intention  always,  and  up  to  the  level 
of  their  intelligence,  are  we  to  teach  a  science  or  an  art? 
Both,  to  advanced  pupils;  but  to  the  immature,  the  art 
only.  Shall  we  use  a  textbook,  commit  rules  and  principles? 
Certainly  nothing  more  than  an  ethical  storybook  for  the 
young;  it  is  almost  as  useless  to  teach  them  morals  by 
catechism  and  preachment  as  it  would  be  to  teach  manual 
training  or  writing  in  that  way.  Practice  is  the  essential. 
But  with  those  mature  students  who  give  promise  of  being 
specialists  in  fine  conduct,  exhaust  the  science;  there  is 
all  too  little  of  it.  An  elective  in  high-school  ethics  is  exactly 
in  place.  Here,  as  always,  we  must  choose  low-level  or  mid- 
level  or  high-level  learning,  as  best  suited  to  the  learner. 

Kinds  of  moral  lesson. — We  have  the  same  kinds  of 
lesson  here  as  in  other  subjects,  lessons  for  information, 
thought,  skill,  and  appreciation.  The  pupil  must  have  a 
certain  amount  of  information,  "know  enough  to  be  good"; 


MORAL    EDUCATION  303 

but  beyond  this,  cramming  facts  will  no  more  save  him  in 
morals  than  in  music.  The  thought  lesson  is  of  high  value 
when  the  pupil  is  ready  for  it.  Morality,  in  the  early  life 
of  the  child,  may  stand  on  mere  authority,  but  it  cannot  do 
so  permanently.  We  teach  the  pupil  to  ask  "Why?"  in 
everything  else;  we  should  do  so  in  matters  of  conduct. 
Would  that  we  could  induce  all  to  take  reason,  finally,  as 
the  guide  in  life! 

The  moral  appreciation  lesson  is  appropriate  at  all  ages, 
and  serves  to  fix  a  brain-set  favorable  to  the  moral  life; 
contemplation  and  participation  are  the  watchwords.  But 
most  teaching  of  morality  consists  in  the  inculcation  of 
something  like  acts  of  skill,  that  is,  habits;  for  the  good  life 
is  composed  largely  of  the  repeated  performances  of  particu- 
lar good  acts,  well  drilled  in.  We  teach  lessons  in  morals, 
then,  just  as  we  teach  similar  lessons  in  other  branches. 

Habit-building. — Professor  James  has  made  classic  the 
laws  of  habit  formation.  They  are: 

1.  Start  strongly. 

2.  Permit  no  exceptions  at  first. 

3.  Use  every  opportunity  for  practice. 

If  we  cannot  make  a  clear  leap  from  the  old  practice  to  the 
new  habit,  we  must  take  as  long  a  step  in  that  direction  as 
we  are  likely  to  achieve  without  backsliding.  We  must  take 
a  running  start,  so  to  speak,  break  with  the  old,  and  let  it 
be  known  abroad  that  we  are  lined  up  with  the  new.  But 
an  exception  in  the  beginning  lets  the  nervous  system  slip 
back  into  its  old  adjustments.  We  must  do  or  die,  and  that 
right  early.  And  we  must  follow  up  our  advantage  with 
persistent  practice,  until  it  would  be  harder  to  go  back  to 
the  old,  neglected,  obstructed  way  than  to  follow  the  new 
and  open  one.  Our  brain  paths  have  taken  a  new  direction. 


304          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

As  teachers,  we  must  consider  that  few  of  our  pupils  can 
take  this  dashing  initiative  and  form  or  reform  themselves; 
they  tend  rather  to  respond,  without  much  deliberation,  to 
the  suggestions  of  associates,  especially  superiors.  It  is 
all-important,  in  teaching  an  act  of  mental  or  muscular  skill, 
that  the  teacher  be  able  herself  to  perform  it  in  true  pattern 
style.  Here  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  teacher's  person- 
ality is  the  strongest  (or  weakest)  moral  influence  in  the 
school.  If  we  want  to  make  our  pupils  moral,  we  should  do 
just  as  a  great  reformer  does  with  the  common  people,  min- 
gle freely  and  tolerantly  with  them,  but  without  sacrificing 
our  ideals  to  their  weaknesses.  The  teacher  should  exem- 
plify strong,  intelligent,  gracious,  persistent  goodness. 

Reformation. — A  suggestion  only  can  be  offered  here. 
An  individual  can  be  reformed  by  mid-level  or  high-level 
methods.  The  mid-level  procedure  cannot  depend  on  the 
intelligent  cooperation  of  the  subject,  but  must  work  en- 
tirely from  without,  somewhat  as  one  would  train  an  animal. 
The  evil  practice,  like  an  undesirable  feeling,  can  be  elimi- 
nated by  (i)  crushing  it  out,  punishing  it  away  by  some 
kind  of  suffering  associated  directly  with  the  offensive  con- 
duct; or  (2)  by  keeping  the  attention  elsewhere  until  the 
old  habit  dies  out, — best  of  all,  by  replacing  the  bad  act 
with  a  related  good  one.  Let  the  boy  who  carves  desk  or 
walls  work  in  the  manual-training  shop.  The  younger, 
or  rather  the  more  stupid  the  child,  the  more  necessary  is 
corporal  punishment  of  some  kind;  the  higher  the  develop- 
ment, the  more  can  other  deterrents  be  used.  It  is  es- 
pecially desirable  to  substitute  moral  flowers  for  weeds, 
good  spirits  for  bad.  To  keep  the  soul  empty  of  all  evil, 
fill  it  with  all  good. 

Where  high-level  methods  can  be  used,  the  victory  is  eas- 


MORAL    EDUCATION  305 

ier.  Even  an  unconscious  bad  practice  may  be  raised  to  the 
level  of  consciousness  and  killed  off  by  self-injunction.  Pyle 
gives  a  case  of  a  girl  who  thus  broke  herself  of  biting  her 
lips,  a  habit  that  had  existed  from  childhood.  This  was 
accomplished  by  consciously  biting  her  lips  and  saying, 
"Now  I  must  not  bite  my  lips."  * 

Complete  high-level  reformation  would  involve  (i)  recog- 
nition of  the  evil  committed,  (2)  the  careful  determination 
of  what  should  and  shall  be  done  under  such  circumstances, 
and  (3)  the  priming  and  setting  of  the  mind  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  use  of  the  right  response  the  next  time  such  a 
situation  is  confronted.  Rugh  offers  the  excellent  sugges- 
tion that  we  require  pupils  under  discipline  to  state  these 
three  points  on  paper,  f 

Community  influence  of  the  school. — The  time  will  come 
when  school  buildings  will  be  deliberately  planned  for 
community  use  and  the  teachers  and  other  workers  con- 
sciously organized  for  community  service.  The  school 
must  keep  in  touch  morally  with  the  adolescents  who  go  out 
from  it,  often  at  the  most  critical  age.  The  most  important 
of  all  continuation  schools  is  the  school  of  morality.  This 
moralizing  influence  must  enter  into  the  lives  of  adults  in 
every  effective  way.  But  the  time  has  come  when  we*must 
stop  bringing  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the  home  into  the 
schoolroom;  we  must  henceforth  aim  to  build  up  good 
homes  at  home. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

i.  Discuss  the  respective  responsibilities  of  home  and 
school  in  the  teaching  of  morality. 

*  William  Henry  Pyle,  Educational  Psychology  (1911),  p.  157. 
f  Charles  Edward  Rugh,  Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools, 
pp.  47-49- 

Science  and  Art  of  Teaching — 20. 


306          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

2.  Write  a  brief  account  of  your  moral  development,  or 
some  phase  of  it. 

3.  Outline  an  essay  on  "The  school  as  a  moral  labora- 
tory," in  which  good  and  bad  are  discovered  and  tried  out 
by  actual  experience. 

4.  Does  religion  seem  to  you  to  be  essential  to  morality? 
Why  cannot  the  school  teach  religion? 

5.  Show  that  ethics  is  an  approximate  science. 

6.  Why  should  we  not  give  to  all  the  same  punishment 
for  "the  same"  offense? 

7.  What  are  the  conditions  that  have  led  you  to  do  your 
worst  deeds?    How  can  you  guard  against  them? 

8.  Discuss  the  moral  aspect  of  coeducation. 

9.  Do  you  think  the  team  work,  self -subordination,  etc., 
of  games  and  debates,  are  carried  over  to  other  activities? 
Give  reasons. 

10.  Is  there  any  such  thing  as  formal  discipline  in  the 
teaching  of  conduct?    Prove  your  answer. 

REFERENCES 

Davenport,  C.  B.,  "  Heredity,  Culpability,  Praiseworthiness, 
Punishment  and  Reward; "  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1913. 

Gould,  F.  J.,  Moral  Education. 

Hanus,  Paul  H.,  Beginnings  in  Industrial  Education,  Ch.  VII. 
La  Rue,  Daniel  Wolford,  "  The  Church  and  the  Public  School; " 
Educational  Review,  Vol.  37,  No.  5. 

Spiller,  Gustav,  Report  on  Moral  Instruction  and  on  Moral 
Training  in  the  Schools  of  Eighteen  Countries. 

Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools,  California  Prize  Essays. 

Papers  on  Moral  Education,  International  Moral  Education 
Congress. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION 

"Each  man  has  his  own  vocation.  The  talent  is  the  call.  There  is 
one  direction  in  which  all  space  is  open  to  him.  He  has  faculties 
silently  inviting  him  thither  to  endless  exertion.  He  is  like  a  ship  in  a 
river;  he  runs  against  obstructions  on  every  side  but  one;  on  that  side, 
all  obstruction  is  taken  away,  and  he  sweeps  serenely  over  God's 
depths  into  an  infinite  sea.  This  talent  and  this  call  depend  on  his 
organization,  or  the  mode  in  which  the  general  soul  incarnates  itself  in 
him.  He  inclines  to  do  something  which  is  easy  to  him,  and  good  when 
it  is  done,  but  which  no  other  man  can  do.  He  has  no  rival.  For  the 
more  truly  he  consults  his  own  powers,  the  more  difference  will  his 
work  exhibit  from  the  work  of  any  other.  When  he  is  true  and  faith- 
ful, his  ambition  is  exactly  proportioned  to  his  powers.  The  height 
of  the  pinnacle  is  determined  by  the  breadth  of  the  base.  Every  man 
has  this  call  of  the  power  to  do  somewhat  unique,  and  no  man  has  any 
other  call.  The  pretense  that  he  has  another  call,  a  summons  by 
name  and  personal  election  and  outward  'signs  that  make  him  ex- 
traordinary, and  not  in  the  roll  of  common  men,'  is  fanaticism,  and 
betrays  obtuseness  to  perceive  that  there  is  one  mind  in  all  the  in- 
dividuals, and  no  respect  of  persons  therein."  * 

EXERCISES. — Make  a  sizable  list  of  your  adult  acquaint- 
ances, including  various  vocational  types,  from  the  pro- 
fessional to  the  day  laborer.  How  many  of  them  seem  to 
you  to  be  doing  the  work  for  which  they  are  best  fitted  by 
natural  ability?  If  possible,  find  out  by  conference  with 
them  how  many  chose  their  vocations  deliberately  and 
thoughtfully. 

*  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Essay  on  Spiritual  Laws.  Used  by  per- 
mission of  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  publishers. 


308          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

What  constitutes  the  ideal  vocation  for  any  individual? 
How  can  he  find  out  what  it  is? 

The  meaning  of  vocation. — We  should  go  to  the  Latin 
root  of  this  word  to  discover  its  finest  educational  meaning: 
wcare  means  to  call.  One's  vocation  is  his  calling,  the  call 
of  heredity,  of  brain  and  blood,  of  instinct,  of  the  best 
ability  with  which  he  is  blest.  A  man's  vocation  is  his 
work;  his  avocation  is  his  play.  "Vocation"  should  not  be 
restricted  to  handwork  or  industrial  pursuits,  making  vo- 
cational education  mean  merely  the  training  of  manual 
laborers.  Vocation  is  life  purpose,  that  for  which  one  is  born 
and  for  which  he  comes  into  the  world;  for  every  man's 
work  is  born  with  him.  It  is  that  pursuit,  mental  or  manual, 
which  becomes  so  dear  that  all  distinction  between  work 
and  play  vanishes;  we  are  ever  at  play  at  our  work,  and  a 
busy  life  becomes  a  ceaseless  vacation. 

Two  social  extremes,  tramps  and  the  idle  rich,  foolishly 
doom  themselves  to  a  life  of  dull  and  incessant  labor  in  the 
effort  to  do  nothing  continuously.  But  if  there  really  are 
any  vocationless  individuals,  they  are  like  the  useless  zeros 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  decimal  point,  negligible. 

In  a  large  sense,  then,  all  studies  are  vocational  studies, 
all  education  vocational  education.  The  big  things  for  us 
to  accomplish  for  every  child  are  (i)  to  discover,  first  in  a 
general  way  and  later  more  minutely  and  accurately,  what 
kind  of  working  force  he  is  likely  to  be  in  the  world,  what 
vocation  he  should  follow;  and  (2)  to  enable  him  to  perform 
most  effectively  the  service  he  is  born  to  give. 

The  need  for  vocational  education. — In  American  peda- 
gogy it  has  become  trite  to  point  out  that  home  and  shop 
are  not  doing  so  much  as  they  once  did  in  the  way  of  train- 
ing our  youth  in  various  lines  of  apprenticeship.  It  is  also 


VOCATIONAL    EDUCATION  309 

trite  to  state  that  a  large  proportion  of  our  pupils  leave 
school  just  as  early  as  the  law  allows.  But  this  combination 
of  unhappy  conditions  is  as  evil  as  it  is  old. 

The  Massachusetts  Commission  on  Industrial  and  Tech- 
nical Education  investigated  three  thousand  families  whose 
children  had  left  school  to  work.  Two  thirds  of  these  fami- 
lies were  found  able  to  have  kept  their  children  in  school, 
and  about  two  thirds  of  the  children  were  found  in  industries 
of  low  grade.  They  had  not  learned  a  trade,  but  had  shifted 
from  one  temporary  job  to  another,  arriving  nowhere  in 
particular. 

It  is  evident  that  great  social  waste  and  great  personal 
unhappiness  must  result  from  the  fact  that  multitudes 
blunder  into  the  wrong  vocation,  or  none  at  all,  and  find 
themselves,  in  the  most  energetic  years  of  young  manhood 
or  womanhood,  hopelessly  floundering  when  they  ought 
to  be  prospering.  As  Parsons  put  it:  "A  man  would  not 
get  good  results  by  using  his  cow  to  draw  his  carriage  and 
his  horse  for  dairy  purposes;  yet  the  difference  of  adaptabil- 
ity in  that  case  is  no  more  emphatic  than  the  differences 
in  the  aptitudes,  capacities,  powers,  and  adaptabilities  of 
human  beings. 

"We  guide  our  boys  and  girls  to  some  extent  through 
school,  then  drop  them  into  this  complex  world  to  sink  or 
swim  as  the  case  may  be.  Yet  there  is  no  part  of  life  where 
the  need  for  guidance  is  more  emphatic  than  in  the  transi- 
tion from  school  to  work, — the  choice  of  a  vocation,  ade- 
quate preparation  for  it,  and  the  attainment  of  efficiency 
and  success.  The  building  of  a  career  is  quite  as  difficult 
a  problem  as  the  building  of  a  house,  yet  few  ever  sit  down 
with  pencil  and  paper,  with  expert  information  and  counsel, 
to  plan  a  working  career  and  deal  with  the  life  problem 


310          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

scientifically,  as  they  would  deal  with  the  problem  of 
building  a  house,  taking  the  advice  of  an  architect  to  help 
them."  * 

Vocational  guidance  and  vocational  training. — To  stop 
this  personal  ruin  and  social  waste  it  is  necessary  (i)  that 
each  be  placed  at  the  post  where  he  can  serve  most  usefully 
and  happily,  and  (2)  that  each  shall  receive  such  education 
as  will  render  him  efficient  to  the  limit  of  his  man  power. 
If  we  had  a  small  fighting  force  in  a  dangerous  position,  or 
a  limited  crew  on  a  large  vessel  in  a  storm,  we  should  appre- 
ciate most  intensely  this  necessity  for  maximal  individual 
service.  Society  is  large;  its  needs  are  less  evident;  but 
they  are  no  less  real. 

To  steer  each  child  ultimately  into  his  own  appropriate 
calling  requires  vocational  guidance;  to  enable  him  to  re- 
spond effectively  to  his  call  demands  vocational  training, 
or  education.  The  first  points  him  to  the  right  road;  the 
second  furnishes  him  the  means  of  travel.  But  guidance 
and  training  go  on  together;  vocation-finding  usually  re- 
quires a  certain  amount  of  experimentation,  of  trial,  re- 
jection, acceptance.  While  the  youth  is  learning  what  to 
do,  he  is  also  learning  how  to  do  it. 

Demands  of  vocational  guidance. — Vocational  guidance 
requires  (i)  minute  insight  into  the  character  and  abilities 
of  the  candidate,  (2)  a  broad  outlook  over  the  field  of  pro- 
fessions, occupations,  "jobs,"  and  (3)  placement  of  the 
candidate  (when  prepared)  in  the  most  suitable  position, 
with  such  after  attention  as  may  be  required  to  insure  per- 
manence of  placement,  or  to  remedy  occasional  inevitable 
misplacements. 

*  Frank  Parsons,  Choosing  a  Vocation,  p.  4.  Used  by  permission 
of  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  publishers. 


VOCATIONAL    EDUCATION  311 

The  first  two  requirements  make  our  efforts  seem  hope- 
less. No  way  of  making  a  complete  inventory  of  a  human 
personality  has  ever  been  discovered.  While  there  are 
bookfuls  of  tests,  and  certain  among  us  seem  to  take  a  tor- 
turer's delight  in  adding  new  ones  to  the  medley,  yet  the 
number  of  such  tests  that  have  shown  practical  value  is 
discouragingly  small.  Moreover,  the  most  successful  and 
valuable  tests,  such  as  those  for  sight  and  hearing  and 
speed  of  movement,  represent  rather  the  simple,  blunt 
procedure  of  plain  common  sense  than  the  elaborate  con- 
coctions of  intricate  psychological  science.  Vocational 
counselors  and  others  who  must  perform  human  analysis 
for  practical  and  comprehensive  purposes  have  not  taken 
kindly  to  the  complex  psychological  tests. 

The  second  essential,  that  we  take  in  the  whole  sweep  of 
the  possible  vocations,  halts  our  enthusiasm  when  we  re- 
member that  there  are  more  than  nine  thousand  vocations 
in  this  country.  Moreover,  each  of  these  callings  must  be 
analyzed  into  its  elemental  vocational  requirements,  that 
we  may  compare  these  with  the  abilities  of  the  candidate 
and  find  whether  he  fits.  Here  is  an  analysis  which  may 
tax  our  powers  as  much  as  does  that  of  the  candidate. 

Candidates  for  positions,  or  positions  for  candidates? — 
In  the  first  place,  as  Ayres  points  out  (in  the  article  named 
in  the  References  below),  the  selection  of  candidates  for 
positions  is  much  simpler  than  the  selection  of  positions  for 
candidates.  In  the  first  case  we  have  to  analyze  the  de- 
mands of  one  vocation  only,  instead  of  all  vocations;  and 
we  test  the  individual  for  a  few  abilities  only,  those  de- 
manded by  this  particular  business,  instead  of  making  an 
inventory  of  the  whole  range  of  his  powers  and  aptitudes. 

One  of  the  most  notable  cases  (quoted  by  Ayres)  of  find- 


312  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

ing  people  for  a  position  was  the  work  of  Mr.  S.  E.  Thomp- 
son, who  used  reaction-time  tests  in  selecting  girls  for  the 
work  of  inspecting  for  flaws  the  steel  balls  used  in  ball  bear- 
ings. This  work  required  quick  and  keen  perception,  ac- 
companied by  quick,  responsive  action.  Mr.  Thompson 
measured  the  reaction  time  of  all  the  girls  and  eliminated 
those  who  showed  a  long  time  between  stimulus  and  reac- 
tion. The  result  was  that  thirty-five  girls  did  the  work 
formerly  done  by  one  hundred  and  twenty;  the  accuracy 
of  the  work  was  increased  by  66  per  cent;  the  wages  of  the 
girls  were  doubled,  the  working  day  decreased,  and  the 
profit  of  the  factory  increased. 

But  our  task  as  teachers  is  more  complex;  we  must  not 
merely  select  a  few  for  a  special  purpose,  but  we  must  guide 
every  maturing  young  citizen  into  his  best  possible  future. 
Here  the  suggestions  of  the  practical  vocational  counselor 
have  special  value. 

Parsons'  method  of  studying  candidates. — Parsons,  the 
founder  of  vocational  guidance,  gives  the  following  outline 
of  his  method.*  It  deals  with  the  outlook  on  the  vocational 
field,  as  well  as  with  the  study  of  the  candidate. 

I.  Personal  Data. 

A  careful  statement,  on  paper,  of  the  principal  facts  about 
the  person,  bringing  out  particularly  every  fact  that  has  a 
bearing  on  the  vocational  problem. 
II.  Self-analysis. 

A  self-examination,  on  paper,  done  in  private,  under  in- 
structions of  the  counselor,  developing  specially  every  tend- 
ency and  interest  that  should  affect  the  choice  of  a  life  work. 
III.  The  Person's  own  Choice  and  Decision. 

In  a  great  majority  of  cases  this  will  show  itself  in  a  marked 


*  Frank  Parsons,  Choosing  a  Vocation,  Ch.  V.    Used  by  permission 
of  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  publishers. 


VOCATIONAL    EDUCATION  313 

degree  before  the  work  under  I  and  II  is  finished.  It  must 
always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  choice  of  a  vocation  should 
be  made  by  each  person  for  himself  rather  than  by  anyone  else 
for  him.  The  counselor  can  only  guide,  correct,  advise,  assist 
the  candidate  in  making  his  own  final  choice. 

IV.  Counselor's  Analysis. 

On  the  basis  of  the  information  obtained  under  I  and  II,  so 
far  as  possible  the  counselor  should  test  III  by  making  an 
analysis  under  each  of  the  following  heads,  seeking  in  every 
line  for  significance  in  the  line  of  the  main  quest: 

1.  Heredity  and  circumstance. 

2.  Temperament  and  natural  equipment. 

3.  Face  and  character. 

4.  Education  and  experience. 

5.  Dominant  interests. 

V.  Outlook  on  the  Vocational  Field. 

One  who  would  be  a  vocational  counselor  should  familiarize 
himself  in  a  high  degree  with  industrial  knowledge,  and  he  will 
need  some  knowledge,  as  we  have  indicated  in  Part  Three  of 
this  book,  that  is  not  at  present  easily  obtained.  Investiga- 
tions to  be  undertaken  at  once  are : 

1.  Lists  and  classifications  of  industries  and  vocations. 

2.  The  conditions  of  success  in  the  various  vocations. 

3.  General  information  about  industries,  up-to-date,  the 

kind  that  is  found  in  current  magazines  and  papers 
rather  than  in  books. 

4.  Apprenticeship  systems  now  in  practice. 

5.  Vocational  schools  and  courses  available  in  your  city  and 

state. 

6.  Employment  agencies  and  opportunities. 

VI.  Induction  and  Advice. 

This  calls  for  clear  thinking,  logical  reasoning,  a  careful, 
painstaking  weighing  of  all  the  evidence,  a  broad-minded 
attitude  toward  the  whole  problem,  tact,  sympathy,  wis- 
dom. 

VII.  General  Helpfulness  in  Fitting  [the  Candidate]  into  the  Chosen 
Work. 


3  H          THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

Advantages  of  the  school  in  vocational  guidance. — Vo- 
cational service  should  be  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  the 
school;  and  the  school  should  be  the  chief  instrument  of 
vocational  direction.  The  great  advantage  enjoyed  by  the 
school  over  all  other  vocational  agencies  is  its  long  term  of 
intimacy  with  the  child.  It  need  not  resort  to  snapshot 
and  cross-section  methods,  for  under  its  kindly  penetrating 
gaze  the  child  works  and  plays  for  years,  revealing  his  in- 
most nature  freely  and  fully. 

By  increasing  its  working  force  somewhat,  the  school 
can  learn  the  family  history  and  the  hereditary  vocations, 
as  one  might  almost  call  them;  can  see  the  panoramic  per- 
spective of  ancestry.  It  can  gather  at  first  hand  the  signifi- 
cant facts  of  the  child's  development,  note  his  successive 
vocational  enthusiasms  as  they  flame  and  fade,  until  at 
length  comes  the  abiding  desire  for  one  pursuit. 

One  especial  advantage  is  that  in  many,  if  not  in  most 
localities,  our  pupils  can  be  brought  into  contact  with  nu- 
merous vocations,  and  can  see  their  practitioners  in  action. 

"Why  will  a  child  desert  his  play 

The  craftsman's  work  to  see? 
Something  within  him,  latent  still, 
Stirs  at  each  stroke  of  strength  or  skill, 

Whisp'ring,  '  Work  waits  for  me!'"  * 

It  is  profoundly  meaningful  when  one  kind  of  work  attracts, 
while  all  others  appear,  in  contrast,  less  desirable. 

Finally,  the  school  can  judge  of  character,  health,  mental 
traits,  general  vocational  bias,  by  actual  trial.  The  knowl- 
edge side  of  many  vocations  is  already  in  our  curriculums, 
and  practice  is  rapidly  being  added.  Where  electives  are 

*  Froebel:  Eliot's  Translation. 


VOCATIONAL    EDUCATION  315 

permitted,  and  to  some  extent  even  where  they  are  not, 
the  school  becomes  a  vocational  laboratory;  here  the  pupil 
can  make  his  mistakes  and  get  training  in  choice;  it  will 
prevent  more  costly  blundering  after  school  days  are  over. 

The  vocational  counselor. — We  cannot  expect  each 
teacher  to  know  the  whole  vocational  field.  We  can  expect 
her  to  give  valuable  personal  information,  of  the  kind  indi- 
cated above,  concerning  the  pupils  she  teaches.  For  the 
rest  we  must  depend  on  the  vocational  counselor,  an  officer 
who  should  be  found  in  every  school  system.  From  him  we 
can  expect  the  broad  social  outlook,  the  knowledge  of  vo- 
cational conditions,  the  information  concerning  school 
courses  and  other  means  of  preparation,  which  are  essential 
to  the  placement  of  our  young  people. 

The  work  as  carried  out  in  Boston. — Boston  is  the  home 
of  the  pioneer  vocational  movement.  The  work,  as  carried 
on  in  the  public  schools  of  that  city,  includes  the  fol- 
lowing: 

1.  Arousing  general  interest  through  lectures,  literature, 
etc. 

2.  A  vocational  counselor,  or  committee  of  them,  for 
each  school. 

3.  A  vocational  card  record  of  each  elementary  school 
graduate,  which  is  sent  to  the  high  school  at  the  time  of  such 
graduate's  entrance  there. 

4.  Vocational  lectures  before  classes  about  to  graduate 
from  the  elementary  school,  followed  by  talks  given  by  the 
teachers. 

5.  Philanthropic  individuals  and  societies  interested. 

6.  Vocational  libraries  established  in  the  schools. 

The  three  aims  kept  most  prominently  in  mind  are  (i) 
to  make  parents,  pupils,  and  teachers  all  realize  the  impor- 


316  THE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 

tance  of  the  life-career  motive;  (2)  to  place  every  pupil, 
when  he  leaves  school,  in  some  remunerative  position;  and 
(3)  to  keep  in  touch  with  those  who  are  placed,  suggesting 
means  of  improvement  and  ways  of  advancement. 

Mass  meetings  are  held,  and  the  vocational  counselors 
form  a  working  organization.  Handbooks  are  issued,  giv- 
ing the  main  facts  about  various  vocations.  A  special  course 
has  been  established  for  the  training  of  counselors. 

But  all  of  these  measures  are  for  the  benefit  of  the  boys 
mainly.  The  Girls'  Trade  Educational  League  cares  for 
the  interests  of  the  girls,  and  the  Women's  Educational 
and  Industrial  Union  conducts  an  appointment  bureau 
for  women.  Another  organization,  the  Home  and  School 
Association,  makes  a  special  effort  to  interest  and  enlighten 
parents  along  these  lines.  The  city  of  Boston  also  conducts 
a  municipal  employment  bureau. 

FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1 .  Tabulate  the  qualities  which  seem  to  you  to  be  neces- 
sary in  all  vocations. 

2.  Which  do  you  think  is  more  trustworthy,  one's  opinion 
about  himself,  or  the  estimate  of  others  concerning  him? 
Why?    Does  anything  depend  on  the  person? 

3.  List  the  advantages  and  the  dangers  of  following  the 
vocation  of  one's  father. 

4.  If  possible,  have  a  psychologist  give  you  a  number  Df 
laboratory  tests.    Do  you  find  that  they  teach  you  anything 
of  importance  which  you  did  not  know  before  concerning 
yourself? 

5.  Do  you  know  what  a  close  scrutiny  of  the  educational 
field  reveals  as  to  the  possibilities  in  teaching?    Is  the  pro- 
fession overcrowded?    Are  salaries  likely  to  go  up  or  down? 
What  are  the  opportunities  for  really  large  service? 


VOCATIONAL    EDUCATION  317 

6.  Do  you  know  how  much  better  your  opportunities 
will  be  if  you  specialize  in  some  particular  line  of  teaching? 
How  can  you  find  out? 

7.  Discuss  matrimony  as  a  vocation  for  women.    Are  all 
fit  for  it? 

8.  What  is  the  relation  of  correct  vocational  placement 
to  morality?    To  social  unrest? 

9.  When  all  have  become  skilled  in  some  vocation,  how 
will  "  unskilled  labor"  be  disposed  of?    What  influence  are 
inventions  likely  to  have  on  this  problem? 

REFERENCES 

Ayres,  Leonard  P.,  "  Psychological  Tests  in  Vocational  Guid- 
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Eliot,  Charles  William,  The  Value,  during  Education,  of  the 
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Parsons,  Frank,  Choosing  a  Vocation. 

Snedden,  David,  The  Problem  of  Vocational  Education. 

Bulletins  of  the  Girls'  Trade  Educational  League,  Boston. 

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INDEX 


INDEX 


Ability,  158 

Analysis  and  synthesis,  173 
Angell,  James  Rowland,  134 
Answers  by  pupils,  186 
Apperception,  83 

in  teaching,  85 
Appreciation,  177 

lesson  for,  166 

literature  cultivates,  289 

plan  of  lesson  for,  195 
Arithmetic,  psychology  of,  258 
Art,  274-284 

educational  value  of,  277 

method  of  teaching,  281 

nature  of,  280 

of  conduct,  302 

of  remembering,  95 

of  teaching,  22-28 

subject  matter  of,  280 
Assignment  of  lessons,  205 
Association,  65,  78-90,  92 

laws  of,  80 

machinery  of,  79 
Attainment,  grades  of,  221 
Attention,  controlling,  124 

and  interest,  124 

nature  of,  124 


Attitude,  toward  class,  182 

toward  teaching,  11-20 
Axioms  for  the  teacher,  30 
Ayres,  L.  P.,  311,  312 

Bagley,  William  Chandler,  218 
Behavior,  levels  of,  129 

high-level,  132 

low-level,  130 

mid-level,  131 

moral,  297 
Betts,  G.  H.,  91,  94 
Binet,  Alfred,  220 
Body,  using  the,  128 
Book,  W.  F.,  138,  146,  147 
Books,  and  education,  202 

substitute  for  teacher,  203 

use  of,  202,  209 
Boston,  vocational  movement  in, 

3i5 

Brain-set,  law  of,  81,  94,  95,  124 
Branches,  essential,  236 

Calling  on  pupils,  185 

Child,  and  the  curriculum,  233 

defective,  71 

imagination  of,  102 


329 


330  INDEX 

Child,  memory  of,  99 

physical  education  for,  54 

poverty  of  mind  of,  68 

teacher  should  know,  31 

thinking  of,  112 

useful  to  whom,  38 
Civics,  271 
Colvin,  S.  S.,  218 
"  Complete  living,"  41 
Concentration,  209 
Concepts,  109,  no 

steps  in  forming,  no 
Conduct,  scientific  basis  for,  297 
Consciousness,  levels  of ,  129 
Constructiveness,  141 
Courtis,  S.  A.,  218 
Crane,  Walter,  274 
Culture  through  vocation,  279 
Curiosity,  141 
Curriculum,  the,  32,  232 

as  preparation  for  future,  235 

material  for,  233 

Davenport,  C.  B.,  299,  300 
Dearborn,  W.  F.,  221 
Defective  children,  71 
Definitions,  in 
Development,   relation   between 

muscular  and  nervous,  49 
Dewey,  John,  227 
Dexter,  T.  F.  G.,  68 
Discipline,  formal,  148 


Drill,  169 

plan  of  lesson  for,  197 
Drilling  for  skill,  195 

Education,  an  art,  25 

an  approximate  science,  23 

as  change  for  the  better,  37 

as  preparation,  42,  43 

books  and,  202 

its  relation  to  other  sciences,  25 

kinds  of,  39 

moral,  40,  297-306 

physical,  39,  47-58 

science  of,  23 

scientific  spirit  in,  19 

vocational,  40,  307-317 
Effort,  measuring,  218 
Eliot,  Charles  W.,  IT,  36,  227 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  297,  307 
Empiricism,  240 
Environment,  60 
Examination  questions,  kinds  of, 
182 

purpose  of,  181 

qualities  of  good,  182 

to  be  avoided,  184 
Examinations,  177 

as  means  of  measuring,  216 

sample  questions  for,  199 
Exercises,  11,  22,  29,  36,  47,  59, 
68,78,91,  105,  117, 128,  138, 
157,  166,  180,  190,  202,  212, 


INDEX 


331 


Exercises,  227,  239,  250,  262,  275, 

285,  297,  307 
Expression,  value  of,  142 
Expressive  learning,  142 

Fatigue,  149 
Feeling,  65,  117 

culture  and  control  of,  119 

its  influence  on  learning,  146 
Feelings,  educating  the,  117-127 

their  place  in  teaching,  118 
Fernald,  W.  £.,215 
Fitch,  J.  G.,  186 
Formal  discipline,  148 
Frequency,  law  of,  80,  94,  124, 

125 
Froebel,  F.,  314 

Games,  54,  55 
Garlick,  A.  H.,  68 
Generalizing,  162 
Geography,  32,  247 
Goodness,  302 
Gordy,  J.  P.,  252 
Graphometer,  220 
Gulick,  L.  H.,  50,  52 
Gymnastics,  educational,  51 

Habit,  143,  303 

and  memory,  97 
Hall,  G.  Stanley,  69,  234 
Helps,  student,  210 


Heredity,  83,  87,  131,  138,  299 
Hero  worship,  139 
Hillegas's  composition  scale,  220 
Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  285 
History,  261-273 

as  a  science,  262 

as  reconstruction  of  the  past, 
263 

educational  value  of,  266 

method  in,  270 

psychology  of,  267 

review  of,  198 

social  value  of,  265 

subject  matter  of,  268 
Houdin,  Robert,  75 
Hubbard,  Elbert,  168 
Hunt,  Una,  112 
Hygiene  and  physiology,  245 
Hypothesis,  162 

Idea,  perception  and,  63 

Ideal,  the  educational,  33,  36-44 

of  life,  43 

teacher  should  know,  33 
Ideas,  63 

clearness  of,  109 

composition  of,  64,  65 

forming  clear,  109 

making  of,  65 
Imagination,  nature  of,  100 

culture  of,  101,  102 

laws  of,  101 


332  INDEX 

Imagination,  limitations  of,  101 

of  the  child,  102 

rules  for  culture  of,  102 
Imagining,  remembering  and,  91- 

104 
Imitation,  141 

learning  by,  135 
Impression,  70 
Individuality,  24,  31,  38,  54,  190, 

233,  300 
Information,  lesson  for,  158,  160 

plan  of  lesson  for,  192 

steps  in  lesson  for,  161 

testing,  176 

Intensity,  law  of,  81,  94,  95,  124 
Interest,  124 


James,  William,  59,  71,  78,  128, 

303 
Jevons,  W.  S.,  22 

Knowledge,  branches  of,  230 
evaluation  of,  241 
kinds  of,  240 
locative,  159 

Labor  and  capital,  278 
Landon,  Joseph,  29,  190 
Langlois,  C.  V.,  261,  265,  270 
Language,  285-293 

as  educational  material,  287 

method  in,  290 


Language,  nature  of,  286 

social  value  of,  286 

subject  matter,  288 
Learning,  100,  128 

curve  of,  146 

expressive,  142 

high-level,  135 

levels  of,  128-137,  133 

low-level,  133 

mid-level,  134 

motives  for,  138 

process,  138-154 
Lesson,  assignment  of,  205 

for  appreciation,  166,  195 

for  information,  160 

for  skill,  169 

for  thought,  193 

kinds  of,  157-179 

plan,  purpose,  and  value  of,  190 

plan,  what  it  should  include, 
191 

planning  the,  190-201 
Lessons,  perception,  74 
Levels  of  behavior,  129 

of  consciousness,  129 

of  learning,  128-137 
Lincoln,  Lillian  I.,  71 
Literature,  289 

Marking  a  class,  220,  221 
Mathematics,  250-260 
educational  value  of,  251 


INDEX 
Mathematics,  general  method  in, 

255 

nature  of,  251 

subject  matter,  253 

value  to  world  of,  250 
Maxwell,  William  H.,  250 
McMurry,  C.  A.,  239 
Measurement,  pedagogical,  212- 
223 

as  a  means  to  progress,  212 

by  the  teacher,  213 

essentials  of,  214 

nature  of,  214 

practical  problem  in,  216 

standards,  216 
Memorize,  what  to,  160 
Memory,  92,  93 

and  learning,  100 

committing  to,  160 

laws  of,  94 

of  the  child,  99 

rules,  98 

specialized,  93,  94 
Mental  material,  collecting,  68- 

77 

combining,  78-90 
Method,   and   what   determines 

it,  29-35 

common  to  all  lessons,  171 
determined  by  child  nature,  45 
in  information  lesson,  160 
in  various  lessons,  157 


333 
Method,  lecture,  174 

nature  of,  29 

question,  174,  180 

scientific,  161 

subject  matter  and,  243 

topical,  174 
Mind,  and  environment,  60 

how  it  works,  59-67 

science  of,  248 

the  child's,  68 
Montessori,  Madame,  233 
Moral  education,  40,  297-306 
Mosso,  Angelo,  50 
Motives  for  learning,  138 
Muscle  and  brain,  49 
Muscular  development,  49 

Nature  study,  244 

Objective  and  subjective,  61 
Objects,  before  words,  69 

lessons  with,  74 
Oral  and  written  work,  171 
Organization,  school,  231 

Parsons,  Frank,  310 
Perception,  63,  65,  68-77 

and  ideas,  63,  64,  91 

composition  of,  64 

lessons  in,  74 

with  a  purpose,  73 
Physical  education,  36,  39,  47-58 


334 


INDEX 


Physical  education,  for  children, 
54 

individuality  in,  54 

order  of  development  in,  50 

principles  of,  52 

purpose  of,  47 
Physical  exercise,  52,  53 
Physiology,  hygiene  and,  245 
Plans  for  lessons,  190 
Plato,  1 86 
Play,  141 

and  playgrounds,  56 
Practice,  educational,  295 
Program  of  studies,  227-238 
Psychology,  59 

necessary  for  teacher,  59 

of  arithmetic,  258 

of  history  teaching,  267 

practical  value  of,  246 
Pupils,  calling  on,  185 

teaching  to  study,  206 
Pyle,  W.  H.,  151 

Questioning,  180-189 

importance  of,  181 

law  of  recency  in,  81,  94,  124 

purpose  of,  181 
Questions  to  be  avoided,  184 

Reformation,  moral,  304 
Remembering,    and    imagining, 
91-104 


Remembering,  the  art  of,  95 
Reviews,  175 

plans  for,  198 
Royce,  Josiah,  219 
Rusk,  R.  R.,  47,  73,  9$ 

Sargent,  Dudley  A.,  47 
Scale,  composition,  220 
Schaeffer,  Nathan  C.,  105 
School,  and  community,  305 

and  vocational  guidance,  313 

how  organized,  231 
Science,  239-249 

aims  of,  13 

and  art  of  teaching,  22-28 

branches  in  elementary  school, 
244 

exact  and  approximate,  22 

inductive  and  deductive,  240 

in  the  curriculum,  239 

key  to  success  in,  12 

method  of  teaching,  16 

nature  of,  239 

purpose  in  schools,  242 

value  of,  241 

why  successful,  13 
Sciences,  mental  and  social,  248 
Scientific  basis  for  conduct,  297 
Scientific    method   in    thinking, 

17,  161 

Scientific  spirit,  n,  18 
Scott,  C.  A.,  115,  157 


Seignobos,  Ch.,  261,  265,  270 
Self-assertion,  139 
Self-consciousness,  123 
Self-education,  teaching,  202-211 
Self -study,  32 
Sensation,  63 

types,  87 
Sense  testing,  71 

training,  72 
Skill,  acquisition  of,  143 

drilling  for,  195 

lesson  for,  169 

testing,  176 
Society,  and  morality,  301 

obligation  to,  41 
Spencer,  Herbert,  241 
Strayer,  G.  D.,  196 
Study,  204 

conditions  for,  208 

for  further,  20,  26,  33,  43,  56, 
66,76,88,103,115,126,136, 
152,  164,  178,  186,  200,  210, 

222,   237,   248,   259,   272,  283, 
2Q2,  305,  3l6 

helps  to,  210 

teaching  pupils  to,  206 

with  the  teacher,  204 
Subjective  and  objective,  61 
Subject    matter,    and    method, 

243 

of  history,  268 
Synthesis  and  analysis,  173 


INDEX  335 

Teacher,  as  vocational  counselor, 


axioms  for  the,  30 

method  as  related  to  the,  155 

should  know  self,  32 
Teaching,  self-education,  202-211 

nature  of,  9 

conditioned  by  subject  matter, 

225 
Tests,  175 

for  eye  and  ear,  72 
Thinking,  105-116 

how  to  stimulate,  163 

nature  of,  105 

ordinary,  107 

plan  of  lesson  for,  193 

school  test  of,  177 

steps  in,  107 

training  in,  113 
Thorndike,  Edward  L.,  122,  149, 

202,    212 

Thought,  devices  for  stimulating, 
163 

lesson  for,  162 
Titchener,  E.  B.,  117 
Types,  sensation,  87 

Value,  of  art,  276 
of  history,  265 
of  language,  286 
of  mathematics,  251 
of  science,  241 


336  INDEX 

Vessiot,  translation  from,  180 
Vocabulary,  75 
Vocation,  meaning  of,  308 
Vocational  counselor,  the  teacher 

as,  315 
Vocational,  education,  40,  307- 

3i7 

guidance,  313 

guidance  and  training  in,  310 
Vocational  movement  in  Boston, 

315 


Whipple,  G.  M.,  71 
White,  E.  E.,  171,  195 
Words,  as  signs,  70 

objects  before,  69 
World,  in  program  of  studies,  228 

knowledge,  229 

pupil's  place  in,  235 

teacher  must  know,  31 
Writing,  172 
Written  work,  oral  and,  171 


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